Published: Tuesday - March 28, 2006
Words by Jay Casteel
Yo Gotti (Photo: TVT Records)
Memphis, Tennessee has been long overlooked as a viable place for hip-hop talent. Sure, 8 Ball & MJG and Three 6 Mafia have repped the Southern city for more than a decade, but not until last year's big screen depiction of a pimp's struggle into the rap game with "Hustle & Flow," was Memphis really recognized on a national level. Add a recent Oscar win by Three 6 Mafia and Memphis is well on its way to being a breeding ground for undiscovered talent.
Yo Gotti, an independent vet from Memphis, is feeling the effects of the recent exposure. With a production deal through Cash Money/Universal in place and a solo record on the way through TVT Records, the rapper is determined to expose the Tennessee destination in a light it hasn't been seen in before. BallerStatus.com chopped it up with Yo Gotti to speak on his journey coming up in an ignored market, how he and Memphis differs from the rest of the South, and how the recent exposure of his city has helped his career.
BallerStatus.com: You've been on the come up for as an indie artist in Memphis since your teens. Talk about life in Tennessee, and the struggles you went through trying to thrive in music there?
Yo Gotti: Of course, Memphis is like any other city or hood, East Coast or West Coast. [You got] your slangers, your bangers, your pimps and your hoes. That's where I come from, so it was pretty much a transition from that into this rap game stuff. I started out doing it with just my homeboys in the neighborhood, letting them hear it. I didn't really take it serious in the beginning, ya feel me? But, once it jumped off and started playing in the clubs, that showed me it could go to the next level. At the same time, there was DJs -- just like in any other market -- that wouldn't play [my music], but I just stayed down and in they face. I would go to the club every other night, asked them to play it. And just staying on the scene and not giving it, let n----s know that I wasn't taking no for an answer.
BallerStatus.com: Around what age did you start rapping and when did you decide this is what you wanted to do?
Yo Gotti: I wasn't like 11 or 12 when I first started. I heard one of my partners in the neighborhood, he was rapping actually. He wrote my first rap. He wrote me a rap and was like, "Say this here." I would say that rap over and over again until I wrote my own rap, but it was in the same cadence of his, just with different words. I just put my own words in the same flow, you feel me? It was more of a hobby for me, I didn't really take it serious like that.
BallerStatus.com: From there, did you take it more serious, gradually?
Yo Gotti: Yea. In my neighborhood, this one dude...this was back when DJ Paul and Juicy J wasn't even together yet. Back when they were dropping DJ Paul Vol. 16 and tapes separately, mixtapes on cassettes basically. The dude in my neighborhood, his name was DJ Sam, so I got on his mixtape, DJ Sam Vol. 9. That was back when Skinny Pimp and them was doing their tongue twister stuff like Twista do, that used to be real popular back in Memphis. [DJ Sam] let me on his album and that kind of got my name ringing in the neighborhood, so I was like, "Man, I'mma go ahead and do this here."
BallerStatus.com: For people who haven't really heard of you or your music, who is Yo Gotti as an artist and what should they expect from your music?
Yo Gotti: I'm real with it. I'm the part of Memphis that's never been heard. Like 8 Ball and MJG put it down for the "M" ...a lot of people think Memphis is just "get buck, get crunk," but it's not. 8 Ball and MJG is the ones who displayed it the closest, from the other side you ain't heard. People usually categorize my rap as gangsta music, but to me, it's reality music 'cause it's what's real. You ain't gonna hear me rap about, "Oh, I killed 10 people" 'cause I ain't. I'mma rap about what I've done or what I seen two or three feet from me, so I label myself a reality rapper. Of course, I got that pain and soul music in it though.
BallerStatus.com: Who were some of your influences musically growing up?
Yo Gotti: Mainly, growing up, it was a lot of independent cats. Back in the day, that's what was hot in my market. There was a lot of independent cats, and then there was 8 Ball and MJG. And pretty much whoever was on MTV and BET at the time because that's where we was all trying to get to.
BallerStatus.com: You mentioned 8 Ball and MJG, who are legends from your city, so what did you learn from them, from what they've done in their careers?
Yo Gotti: What I've learned from them is to make general music. People say Memphis has one sound, but 8 Ball and MJG made general music. Anybody in the world can relate to it, so I learned from them not to stay in one box and to do other things.
Then, I learned from other independent cats around, to be smart on your business. Looking at everybody's situation and taking a little piece from everybody's rights and wrongs, that's how I created my situation.
BallerStatus.com: I've read that you were attending college, but you dropped out to focus on rap. What was the turning point that led you to give up your college aspirations and turn to rap full-time?
Yo Gotti: I went to college because that was pretty much what my people wanted me to do, and I wanted to make my people happy. But, me personally, I felt like school wasn't for everybody because I got family members who went to school for like six, seven years and to me, they are doing what the average person is doing. My school situation was more like I would be late seven days a week, or miss seven days a week. With me doing shows at the time, I done missed seven days or more a month. I looked at like, "Should I this there, or do this here?" From what I just told you, you know what I rolled with [laughing].
BallerStatus.com: What were you taking?
Yo Gotti: I was taking business classes, but I think -- more than anything -- common sense with get you farther than anything. If you can read, write, have common sense and street sense, then you good.
BallerStatus.com: The South has been dominating the Billboard charts the past few years, but not until "Hustle & Flow" was Memphis really on the map. Why do you think Memphis has been overlooked for so long?
Yo Gotti: I think Memphis has been overlooked because of some of the artists who came out of here. That's one of my main goals, to display it the way I think it should be displayed. Like, I look at Atlanta and their artists making it because of their business, which is why you respect Atlanta. I think some of the artists that came out of Memphis before me, were in a mind state to just do them.
BallerStatus.com: How did the success of "Hustle & Flow" help the scene in Memphis?
Yo Gotti: It helped a lot of independent cats in general because you got a lot of people looking down here for music now. Of course, we had a song in the movie too, so I'm pretty sure it got us some exposure that we didn't have either.
BallerStatus.com: A lot of people always say that the South is unified, and that's one of the reasons you guys are so successful. But, why do you feel rappers like yourself are able to build such a strong following independently with no promotion?
Yo Gotti: Ok, in New York, you come up and you do a demo or be spitting on mixtapes, and you can get a deal off that. In Memphis, it ain't nothing like that. We don't even think deal. All you think is, if I can get a little money to put my CD out, I can sell 'em at $10 a piece -- that's your music industry in Memphis. It's not like that's just the way I did it, if you get into the music industry out here, that's the way it go. In the South, most people who get deals weren't even focused on getting a deal. They were focused on selling 100,000 of their CDs for $10 a piece.
BallerStatus.com: Right. In the South, there aren't many labels around, so you're more focused on just selling your tapes right?
Yo Gotti: Yea, there's no big labels at all. But, there is smaller labels with a lot of money 'cause the people that are selling, are getting a lot of money off each record, ya feel me?
BallerStatus.com: Talk about the things that differ between Memphis and the rest of the South. What's different about the scene in Memphis compared to everywhere else?
Yo Gotti: A lot of people look at Memphis and associate it with pimpin' and stuff like that, but you got pimps everywhere. To me, it's more of a hustler's city. In Memphis, they will do anything to make some money, but that's pretty much everywhere too. I just think we are a little underrated. Most people think it's country and it's slow, when it ain't nothing like that. And it's like that in some ways because of the way people display it. You see videos with people in cowboy hats, but don't nobody wear no damn cowboy hats in Memphis.
BallerStatus.com: Now, you guys have also started some dance trends like the gangsta walk. Talk about that a little bit.
Yo Gotti: Yea, that's kinda old. A lot of people ain't doing it like they used to back in the day. They do this other stuff they call jooking, but gangsta walking was back in the day when Hammer came out or something.
Jooking, it's some stuff the kids is doing. I don't do it though 'cause I don't dance [laughs]. It's damn near like a new age breakdancing, but without all the spinning and poppin'.
BallerStatus.com: In a past quote, you said that all you needed was good production and you would move records. Did you get the production you needed to move units for you upcoming album, Back 2 Da Basics?
Yo Gotti: Yea, I got beats on this record. I worked with DJ Toomp, Carlos Brody, Mannie Fresh...man, just a lot of cats. I got like 65 songs right now that we're picking 14 from.
BallerStatus.com: Tell me more about the album -- the concepts, the type of songs people should expect and the overall vibe.
Yo Gotti: A lot of people probably heard the song "Gangsta Party" with Bun B and 8 Ball on it. That's for the clubs and the party scene. I also got songs like the one Carlos Brody produced called "Mamma I'm Gonna Be Alright," where I'm talking about my brother who is locked up now. I got a song called "That Bitch Ain't Yo Bitch," where I talk about situations with girls I dealt with in my life.
Like I said before, I'm a reality rapper. What you hear on my album is gonna be real. I know people go through the same things all across the world, so I know people are going to relate.
BallerStatus.com: Last words?
Yo Gotti: We got the production deal with Cash Money/Universal, where I have two of my acts signed to them: All-Star is coming out this spring and my group Block Runnaz is coming out through Cash Money/Universal. I got a couple acts coming out under our company.
Just look out for the new album, Back 2 Da Basics, from Yo Gotti, the true king of Memphis.
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