Crooked I: All Good Things Come To An End

Hip-Hop Weekly. That term has been etched into every hip-hop fan's brain for the past 51 weeks, as Long Beach rapper Crooked I fed everyone free downloadable freestyles over a beat of his choice consistently over that long time period. Having amassed a bevy of new fans and proved to others -- including other rappers and critics -- that he's a lyrical beast, the weekly series, unfortunately, is finally coming to an end this week.

With the historic moment taking place this week, BallerStatus.com spoke with Crooked I in length about the Hip-Hop Weekly series to find out how it started, how's it helped him thus far, some of the most momerable things moments since the beginning, and what's in store for the highly anticipated final freestyle for Week 52, which hits the net this Wednesday or Thursday.

BallerStatus.com: The Hip-Hop Weeklies have been crazy for the past year. How has the weekly freestyles done for you since you started them?

Crooked I: It's been bigger than I ever thought it would be. It's been a historical series for me, personally, because I've been able to be very interactive with the fans. You just don't understand how it is [when a fans] asks you to rap over a beat on MySpace, you actually do it, then they hit you back excited, they love you for it and I love them for the request. It's crazy 'cause me and the fans are actually communicating with each other. Throughout this whole series, I've been communicating with so many fans that a lot of them become like family. I know them, I talk to them a lot on MySpace, or I run into them on the streets. That's been one of the biggest things for me: being able to connect with people through the series.

BallerStatus.com: Have you noticed that you've gained new fans from the series?

Crooked I: Oh yea, without a doubt. It's crazy. I was in New York recently and when I was walking in the streets, people was just walking up to me like "Yo, what you gonna do next week?" Or "I like week 50 or week 40 man. 40 was my favorite week." Just random people. It did expand my fan base because a lot of people weren't hip to what I was doing or may have heard my name, but really hadn't heard my material. They on board now and support me, which is just dope. All around, the series has many, many positive sides to it.

BallerStatus.com: The whole idea is one of the best I've seen a rapper execute on the internet, so how did you come up with that idea?

Crooked I: Just a couple reasons. One, I don't know... I got fed up with a lot of artists always complaining about downloads on the websites. I understand that, that hurts the sales. I'm not saying that fans should do that. I believe that if you believe in an artist and you wanna support him, you should spend the money on him so he can come back with another album. Support his career, but the other side of the coin is that we do this love for. We don't do this for money all the time. I wanted to show the fans of hip-hop that I could give them free downloads once a week and to just show them that this is what I'm passionate about -- hip-hop music, this movement, this culture. It really paid off.

Once a week, you're getting something free, I'm introducing myself to new fans, or to different websites. Plus, I wanted to prove to different artists that I could do something that you can't do. You can't see me in that aspect. I wanted to make sure that other artists knew that once a week, if I want to, I'll shut you down, once a week.

BallerStatus.com: So, you've done 51, the 52nd and last one is this week. Is there something special you have planned?

Crooked I: Yea man. Me and DJ Skee, we're putting something together real special. We're gonna do something for the fallen soldiers of hip-hop. It's gonna real, real treat. I think everybody is gonna like it. We haven't actually done it yet, probably Tuesday. Usually, what I do is I drop them on Wednesdays, and I go into the studio on Tuesday and whatever comes out, comes out. So, I'm going in Tuesday, but I may postpone it a little longer, just to get everything right. This is the last one, so I wanna go out with a bang. It's gonna be dope though, crazy. This last one is gonna be crraaaazzzyyyy.

It's gonna be a little surprise. I don't wanna reveal too much, but please, please listen to this one. If you didn't listen to any of them, this last one, man, it's gonna wrap the series up quite nicely.

BallerStatus.com: Are you tired of freestyling now? You did 51 one of them, once a week for 51 weeks. Are you just sick of doing freestyles now?

Crooked I: Nope (laughs). I was thinking about doing 51 and a half, before I dropped 52 to be honest. But nah, I'm not tired of it. The funny part about it is I do a lot of features for underground hip-hop artists from all over the world. A lot of people might not know this, but every single day I go into the studio and I do songs and send em out to underground artists everywhere. When I do the Weeklies, it's a chance that I do like four songs, then I do the Weekly. I'm putting out a lot of material at a high volume. I just don't get tired of it.

Certain days, I might be sick or have the flu. During this series, I've been sick, I've lost family members. Certain times when you're down, you might feel like "I don't wanna go in and go to work," but the fans the love it and that keeps me going. So, I just go. I'm trying to prove something. I'm trying to really prove that right now in '08 -- if you remove record sales and go strictly lyric for lyric, this year -- I'm in the top 3, period, that's doing it. I'm on a mission to prove that. If I gotta do 52 freestyles to show it, then hey, I'mma do 52.

BallerStatus.com: Definitely man. From the feedback I see and hear, the majority of people I think would agree with you.

Crooked I: And I appreciate it. It's not as easy as it seems. We all live our everyday lives and try to deliver something once a week -- aside from ghostwriting, working on some up-and-coming artist's project, making your mixtapes or doing features -- it was a learning process for me. I learned a lot about what I can do, creatively and about how people would receive a person that would really put some work in for them.

BallerStatus.com: What was one of the best experiences you've been through with this series?

Crooked I: The other day, I was at a club in the hood in Long Beach and a guy came up to me and said "Thank you for that shout out to my homeboy, my homeboy is resting in peace right now, but he was in a coma. All through his coma, we had your Hip-Hop Weeklies playing in his ears because the doctor said it was cool if he listened to music while he was in a coma." The dude was in a coma, listening to the Hip-Hop Weekly series. That sh-- touched me to the point where, I never thought... You think "Ok, somebody's gonna listen to you music" and either give you props or say "That was a hot song, line or bar." To know that one of your fans was in a coma and listening to your Hip-Hop Weeklies and then pass on, it's incredible. I never would've imagined that I would even be a part of something like that. They said the dude was very happy when he was coming in and out of his coma, like the music lifted his spirits.

BallerStatus.com: Wow, you were really intertwining your music with peoples' lives.

Crooked I: Exactly man. That's the part that I think is the biggest part of it all.

BallerStatus.com: You mentioned how you go in almost everyday and on the freestyle days, you may do four or five songs and then a freestyle. That's a lot of material. What are some of the things that keep you inspired to put some much work in or even do that much material?

Crooked I: Life inspires me. Looking at the industry and being that there's certain people in the forefront that shouldn't be in the forefront. I don't hate on nobody's success. I'm glad that everybody can pay bills and use this craft to go further in life. But there's some people who, to me, are just wack. That kinda inspires me, like "This dude right there, nah. We need to put something out that really, really represents the West Coast or represents hip-hop in a better light." That inspires me. Also, different artists who really go in and go hard, they inspire me. And, just being in the streets and people coming up to me saying "I like what you're doing" or somebody saying "Yo, I wanted to stop rapping, but I read about your story and how long you been doing it, so I feel like I can keep going." That's the kinda stuff that inspires me.

BallerStatus.com: After going through your label woes, being blackballed for being affiliated with Death Row, your beefs... do you feel you're finally accepted within the hip-hop industry after all these years?

Crooked I: Without a doubt. No question. The industry, on a whole, is opening up to me. It's a good thing and I think the series has something to do with it. I think they really got to know me, who I am, through the series. And they also got to see what I"m doing, in my career, to try to take my career to the next level. They got to see my dedication, my passion, my focus and it really opened up the doors. Now, everything is one million percent better than it was a year, or a few years back.

BallerStatus.com: Your official album. People have been waiting for years. It was supposed to drop on Death Row, it didn't. You left, then you were supposedly free, you were gonna drop it, but then you had to go back to court with the label. Then it was over, but you had to go back to court again. So where are you at with all that now?

Crooked I: I'm 100% in the clear. That right there, matter of fact, if I ever have to go back into court over a Death Row matter, it'll be to buy my old album I recorded while I was there so maybe one day I can release it for the fans. Other than that, we're separated fully and permanently. There's no more lawsuits and there's a permanent injunction for that label for them to even speak my name. Plus, I believe somebody else is about to buy Death Row anyway. That thing is fully over though. It's in the past now... finally.

I'm looking forward now. I'm walking into the future. It's all about Treacherous Records. It's all about me being senior VP over there and a partner. I'm so happy that that's finally behind me.

As far as the album, I got about 50 albums. I learned something though. I kept putting dates out there [for my official album to drop] and people at the company would get mad at me 'cause we couldn't deliver due to the lawsuits and stuff. Right now, I gotta new single we about to go to radio with. It's with Akon and it's called "Look At Me Now." I'm in the mixing stages of that. I'mma hit the radio with that, then I'm gonna gauge, off the response from the single, when... the right timing to go ahead and set a date for release. It's an '08 release without a doubt though. It's tricky with these dates though. I've waited long enough, so I wanna make sure when I hit em, I hit em like a nuclear bomb. It's definitely '08.

BallerStatus.com: Following the end of the series, what do you have planned?

Crooked I: I got New West TV. We've been dropping little stuff on YouTube. It's just lil stuff just to keep fans up to speed with what I'm doing, visually. New West TV is gonna be like a five to seven minute show online. It's gonna showcase other artists, entertainers, sports figures and a lot of different stuff. It's gonna be all over the internet, so you'll see it. We're just gonna introduce the world to the New West, at the same time, do interviews with rappers, athletes, actresses, go hood to hood, find out the pubic opinion on hip-hop and show games, gadgets, sneakers, everything.

To holla at Crooked I, hit him up on MySpace at MySpace.com/CrookedI.

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