THE KID FAMOUS
WMS SULTAN
TAMMY VALLEJOS
CALI SNIPES
GRN APPLE
Chamillionaire Exclusive Interview
Dj Laz Vagez
CHAMP: How is the weather? Is it a bit chillier because up north here we like below average?
CHAMILLIONAIRE: It’s sunny man. No rain. Zero percent chance!
CHAMP: Now you hail from the south and that was a factor in helping Houston brand it’s kind of music to the hip hop world, among other artist from Texas. As we see the shift is now Miami, how do feel about such a sudden switch in the music industry?
CHAMILLIONAIRE: I ain’t mad at that. That happens all the time man, you know. It switched from Louisiana, it switched to St. Louis, it’ll go to the east end, and it’ll go to Miami. You know it moves all the time. You just have to know how to stay in flow. Especially as an artist who is trying to have some longevity, you can’t really think about that. You have to reinvent yourself, and keep coming back. That’s what I’m trying to do. I’m not really worrying about that.
CHAMP: No doubt, no doubt. Now you got Chamilitary Entertainment actually since 2004 correct?
CHAMILLIONAIRE: Yeah, correct.
CHAMP: Tell us a bit about that. Who do you got on it in terms of artists and producers?
CHAMILLIONAIRE: I have an artist named Famous from San Antonio. He was actually on the last album on a song called “You Must Be Crazy”. He actually came up in the mixtape game also. I think that’s a big plus because I am familiar with the mixtape world and how it works and anybody that can come up on that realm, that has talent, I think that’s good because that’s the best way to market somebody. I’m going heavy with him right now he’s actually dropping a new mixtape on the 3rd. I also have an R&B artist named Tony Henry, who is actually in a completely different world. He does some soul music and does underground stuff. He does some real soul music. He plays the guitar and can sing. He likes music from the heart. Not necessarily the commercial, pop R&B artist that most of the labels try to find but me, I think music is supposed to have a purpose to it, music is supposed to make you feel a certain way when you wake up. So I kind of go against the grain when it comes to artist like that. I’m in an artist development stage right now, where I feel like you have to develop the artist. You can’t just get somebody, put out a song, and then nobody knows them and they just pop up. You have to have a core audience, people need to feel like they know them or have grown with them. Those are the people that go out and support the records. I actually keep my roster short because I am a busy person as it is and I don’t want to just be signing these people, making them think that I am going to take them to the next level and then just leave them on the roster. I have some other people in the past but you know every now and then you have disagreements and people want to do their own thing. I ain’t mad at that.
CHAMP: Now we got Venom on deck. Tell us about that project and who you got featured on there.
CHAMILLIONAIRE: The album Venom is coming soon. I have the first single featuring Ludacris produced by DJ Monte called “Creeping” is quickly becoming the fastest rising record in Texas. It’s been spread all over the place; I think it’s going to be a big record. As far as the album is concerned; I haven’t confirmed all the features yet and I’m not sure what’s going to make the album because I want to put more songs on it and the label wants me to put less. I don’t want to say all these features and then they don’t make it. Fans will be disappointed because they’re not on the album. I worked with Tennessee, a song he did, produced and rapped on. As well as people like, Good Charlotte, Scarface, 3 6 Mafia, Z-Ro, Bobby Valentino, J Holiday. I just been working man, I got a lot of records but I don’t know what’s going to make it though.
CHAMP: Ok, now I know before Koopa drops his album he always drops a mixtape to build anticipation. Your recent one actually dropped yesterday which was Mixtape Messiah 6. Tell me why you still bother to promote your material that way considering the state of the game?
CHAMILLIONAIRE: When I do mixtapes, it’s really just talking to the audience who have been supporting me for years. I put them out and there are lines out the door. I do in-store promotions and especially in Texas, mixtapes are big. I think it’s the quickest way to talk to the audience and it’s a good way to support the new album. I’m actually giving the Mixtape Messiah Pt.7 free on my website before the album drops so that everyone can know the date it’s going to come out. Then I would hope for that audience to go out and get the album. There are also people who take a different approach to it, and not bring out a mixtape, but what does that do? People have to wait after one single to know an album is coming out. Nowadays people have to listen to three songs to get interested to buy an album. This is why I’m releasing all this material so people can get accustomed to the Chamillionaire brand and know that it’s dope.
CHAMP: Now before the holidays you had a joint called “Internet Nerds Revenge” and in this New Year you got “Internet Nerds Argue”. To me those joints are the most creative joints up till now. Tell us where the concept came from on those joints.
CHAMILLIONAIRE: We always argue about Hip Hop and stuff and then you have some people that always back themselves up with “everybody is saying this” and I’m like what do you mean everybody? Then they start talking about everyone on a particular site. There’s a difference between the internet and people on the streets and the real world. A lot of times you hear those comments and that gave me the idea to make the “Internet Nerds Revenge” track about this guy who is always talking about everything on the internet. He’s really a loser who’s always at home living with his mother. That was the idea of the first one so I continued it. I did the same thing with the “Roll Call Reloaded” on the Mixtape Messiah series where I would be rapping in the voice of rappers. That came from being in the studio and mimicking rappers and then I just kept doing it and putting it on the mixtape. People were asking me if I thought people would be mad with the Internet Nerds Track, but I said the internet nerds don’t even think they’re internet nerds, they will tell you a million reasons why they’re not. I didn’t put that track on the Mixtape Messiah 6 Mixtape because I don’t think people want to hear that in their car, it’s more of an internet track.
CHAMP: Venom is soon to come out and you got Mixtape Messiah 6 out now. What else we got in store besides Mixtape Messiah 7?
CHAMILLIONAIRE: Actually man I’m about to step up a lot of things. Back in the day I used to be real super heavy on the online thing. I actually put down my website for awhile because it was getting really crazy and big. I’m actually going to set up a website that’s going to have live videos of me in the studio and people can see me and my fans can feel that they are a part of the whole movement. They can get on there and ask me questions. A lot of my fans send me stuff and ask if I checked out their page but I’ll be on the internet all day and not even have the time to check it out but if I have a live blog sort of thing I can check it out right there and listen to it and tell everyone what I thought for everyone to see. It’s the time to get more interactive with the fans.
CHAMP: Now your website offers Mixtape Messiah for downloading purposes. How can fans check out more material from you?
CHAMILLIONAIRE: www.chamillionaire .com is where you can get all the free downloads, updates and mixtapes and my MySpace page www.myspace.com/chamillionaire . My phone number voicemail is 832-514-047-130- You can stay updated on what’s going on with me using that as well.
INTERNET NERDS ARGUE - CHAMILLIONAIRE
