One thing I’ve noticed about the Chicago rap scene is that there are so many collaborations among the artists. You guys are constantly featuring other artists from Chicago. Do you think that’s a cause or an effect of a hope to ameliorate the social climate and strife in Chicago?
I think that’s a good point. I think within the culture we come up in, especially the younger generation, I love that they come together and they collaborate. We have been known for a long time as the city of haters. And they didn’t do records together. I guess it really started with me, Rhymefest, and Lupe. We’ve all done records together. We broke down those walls. It used to be said that Common and Twista would never do a song together. And the shorties have followed our lead. I think that’s a beautiful thing.
With each project you’ve put out, you’ve said that they’re a result of having to get something off your chest. And with Bulletproof Dreams on the horizon what else is on your chest?
Really, right now, it’s time to go for history and compete with the greats. A lot of people called Castro a classic. Right now, it’s about raising the bar. Bulletproof Dreams is about letting people know, “Don’t let anybody ever kill your dreams. Keep on doing what you’re doing. Regardless of what’s going on in your life, let your dreams live on.” Just like Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream didn’t die with him. Castro wrote this speech called “History Will Absolve Me.” I’m not doing it to make a club record. I’m doing it for the record books, bar for bar, song for song.
What can we expect as far as features and production?
I want to get Pusha-T on this project. Me and J.Cole just talked about doing some work together. Producer wise I’m really rocking with No I.D. and he has a producer signed to him called Trackmatic who I have a crazy vibe with. I’m working with Don Cannon really heavily. And I’ve been doing a lot of work with Million $ Mano. It’s gonna be really Chicago produced.
What specific dream inspired the name of this project?
My dream has always been one thing in the confines of Hip-Hop. It’s to be on the Mt. Rushmore of Hip-Hop. That’s my goal.
Who’s on that Mt. Rushmore right now?
Right now it’s Nas, Jay Z, Biggie, Tupac, Eminem, Wu-Tang, BDP, Rakim, Kool G Rap. I might be leaving off a couple names but my list is my list. Those are the names that will come up most frequently when you talk about who did it best. I feel like Kanye is on that list too because of the quality of music that he’s made. I feel like I’m getting there. My route has been different from everybody else’s because I had to take time off to actually live life-go back to school and get a masters, do this and do that, be a part of my two sons’ lives. Right now it’s about laying that groundwork so when I get my shot, people can go back and say, “Man, he has a long history of work.”
I know Kanye’s been in the media eye a lot these days. But now that I know how tight you guys used to be, have you spoken to him recently?
I haven’t talked to him in the last couple weeks or months but we talked a little while back. But we’re gonna work. When we finally work together again, I think that’s gonna shake the industry up. We both kinda know it. We want it to get the right amount of time. I understand what he’s going through, not that I’m on a Kanye level or anything. I understand what kind of person he is and how he needs space to be creative. It might be the next project. When we do something together it will be newsworthy.
Bryan Hahn (@notupstate)
