UD: You had one line, "Y'all beefing but y'all got the same cheese in your eggs." It made me think about Ja Rule and DMX taking shots at each other but they were both on Def Jam.
S: It was definitely a situation where rappers were using the beef card to get noticed, to keep their names in the barbershops and in the magazines. I been to award shows, and you're sitting right there and he sitting over there, and y'all acting like y'all not even here. It's so high school.
UD: To that point, do you feel you've picked a couple fights yourself, particularly with Eminem? Kinda goading him a little bit?
S: Maybe one time. But you gotta understand, any time I throw your name out there in a verse, in a disrespectful way, I feel like I have a reason. I never just pick on somebody. Not to discredit Em- he might be the greatest white rapper of all time. The dude is nice, you can't take that away from him. But he dissed a person that's very close to me. And I didn't like it. And that person did not say anything, because to even answer Em would be beneath him, to the public eye. He said something about someone very close to me and I didn't appreciate it.
UD: When he dissed Jermaine Dupri?
S: Nah. Jermaine Dupri and I ain't friends at all. He said something about Will.
UD: Will Smith?
S: Right. And I didn't appreciate it. Especially after he had been to Jazzy Jeff's studio, recorded a song with Jazzy Jeff and Will. You know, who the **** is going to meet the Fresh Prince and be cocky? We all wanted to be the Fresh Prince.
What nigga wouldn't want the career the Fresh Prince has had? What nigga wouldn't use that as inspiration?
When he said, "Will Smith don't have to curse in his raps to sell records but I do/so **** him and **** you too," I was like, nah, B. Not after you was just down there in the studio! I ain't appreciate that.
UD: What's funny is that Bow Wow had said some stuff in interviews saying Will Smith was corny. But I just read a story in the AP about how Bow Wow wants to be the next Will Smith, how he wants to focus on acting now.
S: You know what makes this so sad and so disheartening? I remember everything these dumb ****ing rappers say. Like if you go in my garage, dog, you'll see every Vibe, every Source, every Blaze, every magazine, all the ones that not in print anymore, the Rap Pages... And I be going back and reading some of the **** these fools said. And it comes back to what you're saying now. And I understand that we grow, and we all mature, but rappers have said some dumb **** back in the day, real talk! I think they be forgetting their ****. I was reading something, I can't remember who it was, but he was like, "Dog, if I don't at least sell 5 million records, then the game is rigged." I'm like, please! Who the **** is selling 5 million records now? And this is in '91! And mother****as are like, "I don't write my rhymes, I just go in, I don't even write **** down." And I'm listening to your record like, I can tell you don't write **** down.