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1) How did you come up with the title “Bulletproof” for you album?

“Actually I stared working on the album, and I was maybe about five songs deep, and Jimmy Iovine kept saying we gotta make Hush’ album bulletproof we just gotta make it bulletproof, so that nothing touches it because he is gonna be doing a whole different side of just a normal hip-hop record, you know he has rock in it he’s got singing on it, you know he is taking it to a another level, you know we gotta make it bulletproof and then like a month later we were trying to come up a title for the album and I said why not call it bullet proof that’s what Jimmy kept saying ‘lets make it bulletproof’ so that’s how I came up with it.”

2) So you want to make it untouchable?

“Right, basically, I wanna do what no one’s done before with the type of record I’m doing, which is fusing rock and hip-hop together.

3) Tell me a little more about your album, what can the public expect?

“They can expect a more, not just a general hip-hop record I’m doing a totally different way, I’m taking the rock side of that genre, and fusing it with the hip-hop but I’m doing it in a hip-hop fashion, instead of a rock fashion, so they can expect to hear hip-hop beats but, with more guitars on it, rock style, more sort of rock hooks, stuff like that they are going to hear a real MC over rock tracks, on maybe half the record, that’s what they can expect what Limp Bizkit wasn’t able to do and that was really take it to the hip-hop side.”

4) Any guest appearances on your record?

“Yup, Mr. Mathers made an appearance, he produced two tracks, and he did the hook on one song. Nate Dogg, Talib Kweli, Bareda, Lodown from Detroit.”

5) Did you guys pick a single yet?

“Not yet they are in the process right now, its gonna be here soon I mean in the next thirty days, I’ll have something picked out.”

6) Did you feel signing to Interscope Geffen records was the right look for you?

“Oh yea for sure, its like their label Interscope, mainly is been a label I’ve watched my entire career as an MC. Ever since Interscope’s been born I’ve watched what they’ve done with every artist that’s ever came through Interscope, and I think the majority of artists out there wanna be with a label that allow them to keep their creative control. Allow them to do their thing with out somebody on top of their back like you need to make a club record, you need to make a fuck record, yo you need to make a cross over record. I didn’t have none of that, and that’s what Interscope brings to the table. Geffen is my label, but interscope is the sister label. So most of the same people who work for Interscope work for Geffen. So it’s like Jimmy is my boss so it’s like to get with a label that allows you to keep your creativity and not be on your back. I had no one on my back, this entire record, I had nobody watching over me, I had nobody in the studio with me going you need to change that you need to do this, with Interscope. I wanted to be with a label that was pro-artist and that’s what Jimmy is he keeps that label and he runs pro-artist because its really true talent at them labels its not , they don’t put people out there that are gonna sell-out or just straight pop-cross over stuff certain things, certain issues they do, but its because special instances, like Ashlee Simpson, I mean Jesus Christ its just so easy to see why they would pick her up, because of Jessica, but they don’t snatch people off the street, okay we’re gonna turn you this into pop star, more or less Jimmy is trying to start with me and Slim Thug, he’s taking Geffen to a whole other level because Geffen is always a label that been more Rock oriented and now MCA is joining them we got Talib, Mos Def, the roots, Common, Mary J., its like he is trying to turn that into what Interscope was. I’m just glad to be of all that.”

7) Out of all the songs on your record which one do you feel the most?

“Umm wow. I feel the whole record to be honest with you. I put my heart and soul in the whole record, if I had a couple of joints to pick, probably ‘Let it Breathe’, a track I did with Talib mainly because the track was suppose to be for Raven Symone which, was kind of funny but I told the producer liken no you gotta let me take it. I’m telling you I can turn this into something else and Talib got in it and to hear Talib gimme kudos for what I’m doing and for there being mutual respect there you know cause I’m a huge fan of Talib’s so that was a fun record, and to get him involved in it was even greater. Then you got a track with Marshall which is called ‘Off to Tijuana’ that features Kuniva, and Swifty, and Marshall doing the hook on it, but it’s the first time me and Marshall collaborated since 98’. So you know everything comes full circle so its cool to do something like that it make it more special. But its tracks like that, that I’m really proud of and I’m really happy about that they make my record kind of stand out to me when it comes to certain things like that cuz its just the memories of making the record so the whole record is banging so its hard to pick the one that’s my super fave. One day I’m feeling one thing one day I’m feeling another thing and next week I’m feeling something else.”

8) You and Eminem have always been cool how does it feel getting back in the studio with him?

“Wow well um its fun its like you know to D12; I haven’t been in the studio with him when he’s worked with D12, but I’ve been in the studio when I worked with him, so I can imagine what it’s like for D12, because just for me and Marshall to do a couple of joints together, you know we’re still working together too. We got another track that his working on right now and he is constantly feeding me beats all the time like here take this, see what you can do with this, so with him he is like the new Dr. Dre; just to watch him you can totally see he always, has work ethics, crazy he is always taking it to another level, he is a professional man you cant even say much more about the guy when your in the studio with him he is 100% professional. There’s no Bud no brew no nothing in the studio it’s just him and some Taco Bell. He is really getting down on a beat he got his staff working he is really banging stuff out and he kind of mentored my style a little bit, to a certain extent, when I get in there I do what I do first and then he’ll come behind me and go, you should do this just a little bit you should tweak this just a little bit different and it would take this to the next level, I’m always open for criticism from people it doesn’t matter who it is. If somebody else thinks I can do it better, then that’s just… if you don’t do it, they aren’t gonna feel the record. You want them to feel the record so you take it to the next level so for him to be in there and him go get in the booth and for him to be like switch this just a little bit, and its a lot of fun. Detroit is the syllable city, Marshall wasn’t the only one flipping syllables like that out of the D everybody all of us kind of came up that way, Elzhi, Slum Village, and D12, and Marshall, and me, and Da Ruckus, we all came up with that same syllable style. We didn’t invent it obviously we got people like Big Daddy Kane and everybody else who flips it a whole other way but Marshall takes it to a whole other level and took it to the whole other unreachable point sometimes, where you just like damn, for you to hear him tell you, you can take it to another level, its just gonna make you better. He is like Detroit’s Dre.”

9) Let’s talk about that song “Hush is Coming” did you produce that beat?

“No Marshall produced that.”

10) Should we be expecting a video from you perhaps on TRL?

“Well I imagine so, everything involved in my record I pretty much hope so, I mean its going that way Geffen is behind me 100%, Jimmy is behind me 100% . I got props from 50, I see 50 in a meeting and 50 goes your hot its like you hear this kind of stuff, and you know Geffen, and Jimmy are standing right there, and they are gonna help take it to that next level, nobody is going sleep on this project. I can tell you that, everybody is positive about it, I haven’t had nobody take what I’ve done and take it to I dunno, nobody’s ever said that they always got it you can put in quotes, ‘they got it’ they understood what I was trying to do, I’m not trying to be the best MC out there I’m trying be the best of what I do to entertain people and fans, and leave something for my kids for when they get older; to see where their father was at, at the time where he was doing what he was doing. I’m not trying to be the old Hush which, was that battle rapper, that rappers, rapper I’m trying to take it to a whole other level, and take me to a whole other level as you get older, and you start to perfect your craft you realize that there’s a whole world out there, rather than just a cipher. You want to reach everybody.”

11) So are you still part of Rock City Records as well?

“No, no more. I haven’t been part of Rock City Records for two years now.”

12) How is your relationship with Shane Capone now?

“We cool, we boys we just aint business partners no more, we still friends. I got my record deal. The way the business works they the industry is if your tied down to something you know for whatever it make them back off. And Shane understood what I had to do and where I had to get to, because I got kids I got two and I got one on the way. You cant hold someone down whose got kids they gotta take it to the next level and Shane understood that, being my friend, and we just split I said here I’ll give you my 50% back, I’ll give you everything else back, and I gave him everything else back, and we still cool”.

13) After so many years how does it feel to break through in the industry?

“It’s a blessing you just know you’ve been working so hard and trying to get to that next level, and you just knew that the right person had to hear it, or had to understand what you wanted to do. Because so many people out there, I had to figure out what I was doing because, so many people out there who I was trying to let hear my stuff, weren’t the right people that I was playing it for you know. So it’s like finally you let the right people hear it, who have a big open ear rather that that closed hip-hop ear, you know what I mean. The closed hip-hop ears are like okay, I see what you doing but, it might be to big for what I can do for it you know, so it’s like trying to get to that next level, its like finally go there and man you feel redeemed. Now I put in all this work all these years, I got my record deal, okay not it starts from here you know. All that is great and all that it looks great on my biography, but it all really starts from here because, if I don’t sell any records, I’m back to what I was doing before. Its really, I got to take it to the other point where it’s like if you don’t make it now, it’s gonna be hard to swim uphill. I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished, but there’s so much more to accomplish that I don’t even dwell on it. I just know how much work I gotta put into it.

(Most people would just give up after a certain amount of times but you just kept going).

Yeah because most people, a lot of rappers get their record deals and they just quit, they think they worked so hard to get their record deal that once they get it they become lazy. But its hard to become lazy, and its hard no to forget where you came from, when you come from a city like Detroit, where you got one of the top three artist in the world, living here and whose your friend, you sold millions of millions of records and you go to his house and you see what he’s earned, and his accolade and you see that Oscar in that big trophy case, your like damn I want that. To see how he’s living it’s a good thing to see because I wish everybody could see that stuff I wish a lot of New York artist could go to Jay-Z’s crib, to what Jay-Z has worked so hard for, and earned, it would make them go back to the lab and work harder, that’s what it does for me. I dunno about other Detroit artist but I know bout myself going to his house and hanging out and seeing him work, and seeing what he has, makes me wanna have the same thing that provides my family in the same way. It starts from here I’m happy with what I have, I just know there’s so much work to do so I don’t even think about, I don’t dwell on being happy on what I got right now because I know there’s going to be so much more that I gotta do.

14) So what do you feel about the beef between the source and Eminem?

I think its wack, I mean no matter what happens in peoples lives; because I’m sure Benzino had done stuff that no one knows about or nobody’s brought to the forefront, but they just happen to find a little bit of dirt on Marshall, but Marshall came to the forefront, and apologized and said look I made a mistake I was just a kid. After that you gotta leave that man alone, he came out he said I made a mistake I apologize but I’m doing this and that , that man gives back to the city, that man gives back to the urban community, that man does a lot of things for a lot of people. Who is Benzino to judge somebody, Marshall is only going to be judged by God. All you gotta do is apologize he never ran from it, and I think with the source, let’s be real Marshall has enough money to buy the Source. Marshall’s got enough money to create his own magazine, let’s be real how many readers are gonna pick up a magazine that Marshall creates a million. The Source lost a million readers, because of the beef, because all along the actual readers of the Source are Marshall fans so why would you go against a man that’s creating so much business and so much profit for you, and once you create this beef, you watch your sales decline by a million, makes no sense, don’t keep going after that man because you think he is part of this corporate system that’s out to take down what hop-hop was, this man actually helped bring hip-hop back he helped a lot of these artist go back to the lab, the only real people that were doing it when Marshall came out was Biggie and Pac. Jay-Z came back out after that, those four people right there Biggie, Pac, Jay, and Em helped bring hip-hop back and Marshall’s got more skills in his right thumb than Benzino does. It’s just the people who are upset and always mad. Benzino is the real mad rapper, because he had a rap career and it didn’t work out, he had a couple of hits and in the early days, early 90’s ‘one of the chamber’ was one of my hottest records. Even that other he had wit RSO but okay, RSO fizzled out now you become part of the Source, because you extort Dave Maze, into giving you what you didn’t even earn, and you turn the Source into this big… to be honest with you it turned more corporate that it is real hip-hop for you to take that whole thing and flip it and turn it on one man in hip-hop, it so stupid, its just retarded, especially don’t bring up skin color, when half you family is white. That don’t even make no sense, that’s the pot calling the kettle black, and Dave Maze just got his ass beat here so what does that tell you bout where we’re from. You can’t come to my city talking shit about Marshall, you got no clue how many soldiers that boy’s got here. Its ridiculous Marshall’s sitting somewhere watching the cartoon network while Dave Maze is getting his ass beat.

15) So I’m guessing you like the movie 8 mile?

Well 8 mile is, 8 mile I lived it, I was there I seen it in my face; those where the days, those were the hay days. I was there during all that. I know who every character in that movie is; I know even a couple characters were two people in one. For me to see it, I already seen it, so I saw the real version. So for me to see the Hollywood version I was like okay this is it; they took to this because this is Hollywood. Who else did that I’m sure there’s a lot other…it’s funny too because a lot of other artist have the same story Marshall does, just, never came out people don’t wanna take it to that level and bring their story out don’t have the ability to make those connections, to make their story come out like that, but 8 mile is a lot of people story in every city, any struggling rapper knows what 8 mile is about.

16) Who are your top five MC’s?

Biggie, Pac, of course, Em, Big Daddy Kane, see that’s tricky. My number 5 is like three in one. If I could put three in one would it be Jay, Nas, and Rakim you can’t ask anybody who there top five is anymore it always like the top eight. You know its like you got peoples early influences but then there’s that middle part of hip-hop, where you were just like damn just like these guys were just killing it, and then you got the new guys, now that really super hot, so you kind of just rap it up in the whole, years of hip-hop, so its kind of hard to narrow it down to five cause there just so many great ones.

17) So what can we expect from you in the 05’, other than your album?

Well I’m trying to do this movie thing, I am auditioning right now for this movie for this movie called “Street” that’s coming out with Alec Baldwin, its actually based out Rucker Park, up in NY. So I am trying to take it to the movie side I’ve been doing independent movies in Detroit and you know just trying to take it to that level. It just seems sometimes not all rappers can act, so I am not trying to do a rapper movie and I made that clear when I talked to my agent, I don’t wanna do the rapper movie, I don’t wanna do the rapper role. Don’t make me that boy in the hood, don’t make me that guy who is rapping on stage and whose got the girlfriend in the crowd, I don’t wanna do all that. I don’t wanna be that person they watch on screen and go that Hush. You know when you watch 2 Fast 2 Furious you automatically go oh Ludacris or all these movies Xzibit does you know what I mean, its Xzibit you don’t expect anything more from him, you wanna see him change his appearance, and get into a more dramatic role. I am trying to do stuff that Will Smith, and Mark Walhberg, and take it to that level cause, them cats knew how to take music, and acting separate ways, and go both routes and be successful at so hopefully in the 05’, you’ll see me in a flick, just hooking up with a couple of people. I am still gonna be banging out a lot of beats, so hopefully, I’ll get out a couple of tracks on a couple of people’s albums that’s coming out this year I’m just working, and working, I know that my foots in the door now its just trying to get the whole body, up in there so that’s about it.

18) Do you have any advice for any aspiring artist?

Yeah don’t quit you day job, I dunno it’s hard to give other rappers advice, because it’s the same advice that every rapper always gives, you know don’t give up on your dream, I mean if your talented its gonna show. If your talented, and you work hard, and you got good work ethics, and you got good people surrounding you, good family, good quality, that are gonna tell you the real, it always comes through. But if people are telling you, your wack please quit, if nobody is telling you, your good please quit, cause so many people need to quit, somebody telling you this isn’t hitting, this shit sucks, there’s a lot of people in Detroit that need to quit. I am sure there’s a lot of people here in NY where you guys are just like Oh My God, you guys need to quit.