gillie the kid (shot three times in one year?)

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http://www.ballerstatus.com/article/features/2007/03/2261/

In less than a year, Philadelphia rapper Gillie da Kid has been shot three times, involved in a highly publicized beef with Lil Wayne, and locked up for a drug charge involving a high-stakes distribution ring. Repping the murder capitol along with Beanie Sigel and Cassidy, who have also made a string of headlines in recent times, Gillie's situation appears to confirm the city's ruthless labeling.

Out of jail with a story to tell, the Major Figgas veteran doesn't appear in the least bit sidetracked from his legal troubles and is instead getting busy in the studio. Shortly after his release, a relaxed Gillie talked to Ballerstatus about the love he has gotten from G-Unit, his support for new talent in Philadelphia, and the cause of his rift with Cash Money.

BallerStatus.com: You've had a hell of a year, how are you feeling?

Gillie Da Kid: I had a few minor setbacks, but it gets greater later; the best is for last, I just take it a step at a time.

BallerStatus.com: You were in jail for 11 days, was it a rough stay?

Gillie Da Kid: Nah, I had the option of taking protective custody, and of course, I didn't take it. I ain't had no problems at all.

BallerStatus.com: Your management made a statement that this was a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, how do you view your charges?

Gillie Da Kid: I was advised by my lawyers to not talk about the case. There are certain things that gotta be taken care of before I can speak on that.

BallerStatus.com: Can you talk about who was looking out for you when this situation popped off?

Gillie Da Kid: Yeah, I got support from people in the streets and all the fans. I wasn't even locked up! It was Free Gillie t-shirts all over. Shout out to 50 Cent. He reached out to me, so shout out to him and the whole G-Unit. When I got out of jail there were three record labels outside the prison, so shout out to them.

BallerStatus.com: I know Young Buck had expressed his interest in having you on G-Unit and you had also talked to 50 about signing in the past, what's good with that situation?

Gillie Da Kid: I mean, 50 is a real n----, but I feel like I'm my own boss. I'm not saying that I can't be under somebody, but I have just been putting in too much work and I've been doing it for so long that I feel I deserve my own chance and my own shot to put my company on the map -- Major Figgas you feel what I'm saying? And 50 being the real n---- that he is, he understands that. He really ain't got absolutely no hate in his blood and I can see it, you know what im sayin'? He a stand up dude.

BallerStatus.com: It seems like throughout your career you've stood your ground in terms of negotiating deals and you have high standards in terms of contracts. Is that part of why you're still an independent artist?

Gillie Da Kid: I can't say that, because I done had a lot of deals. It's just that I've just been getting into, unfortunately, bad situations or situations that don't work out for the better. My first deal I ever signed, I got $500,000 [deal], that was back in '99 with Suave House. And I got $100,000 up front, so I'm coming into the game with a comma already in my bank account. So, I come into the game with some money. Now I understand that $100,000 dollars really ain't no money, you feel me? When you first coming out, you like "Man I got $100,000, I'm good." But, then you realize that that really ain't no money.

Unfortunately the situation, [Tony Draper] left Universal, and they really didn't have distribution anymore and that slowed up my process right there. Then I had to put out an independent album with Major Figgas that got bought from Warner Bros. and distributed worldwide by Warner Bros., and we had the #2 rap single in the country. Back then Warner Bros. wasn't the powerhouse that it is now. They didn't have Lyor Cohen, they didn't have Kevin Liles... so, we had the #2 rap single in the country, but we was getting 700 spins worldwide. If you know anything about the music game, you know that don't add up. You got Bow Wow with the number one rap single at the time and he's getting 8,000 spins worldwide. That was another situation that was the wrong situation, so I had to get out of that.

Then I got with Cash Money, they were so interested to sign me, they gave me $200,000 upfront as an advance and then tried to give me some of my publishing. What they was offering didn't add up, so I was forced to play the background, write raps and get checks. So when I got enough checks and did enough videos and got enough mixtapes out, my buzz is heavy enough that I can leave and get my own situation, that's what I did.

BallerStatus.com: So you timed your departure from Cash Money with when you felt situated financially, as opposed to from a specific incident?

Gillie Da Kid: Yeah, and at the end of the day, when I saw how they was playin' it and I realized that "Alright, you have Cash Money artists here that from day one, they knew nothing about publishing, so they never got a publishing check," that alone lets you know the greed that Baby has.

Now they signing an artist from Philadelphia who knows something about the game, so we may have to give him something for his publishing. Let's offer him $300,000 for 50% of his publishing, but that don't add up. I know how to do business, ya'll are offering $300,000, but I need $2 million. Let's meet somewhere in the middle and you can cut me a check, but they didn't want to do that. That sound preposterous to them because they never paid anybody for publishing at all. So, they feel like, "We giving you $300,000 n----, you betta be happy." Nah, I'm not content with that. I'm cool, Imma keep my publishing. "OK we gonna make you sit on the bench til you break," but I'm not gonna break because one thing about me, I know how to hustle. I know how to get to a dollar, so I'm not going to let a minor bump in the road slow me up.

OK, Mannie's making a beat let me write a song real quick. "Mannie, I wrote a song for you, check it out." [He'd be like] "OK, that's the sh--, this one of your hottest records." Now you don't want to work anymore because why would you? You just let somebody write it and it will be hotter than what you say anyway. OK come on, check, check, check. I'm putting mixtapes out -- six of 'em -- check, check, check. Alright I'm gone, I'm comfortable now, I got enough money now.

BallerStatus.com: Do you think you knew more about the business side than any of the other artists on Cash Money?

Gillie Da Kid: You know, I don't really know. They all friends of mine, so I wouldn't even want to speak on their situation. I could just tell you that eventually they all had to get their situations right. He had to give Juvenile millions of dollars, he had to give BG millions of dollars, and I believe he's on his way to giving Fresh millions of dollars. So at the end of the day, if the business wasn't right for them in the beginning, it ended up right for them in the end.

BallerStatus.com: So if Wayne had not name checked you, would you never have spoken on the ghostwriting?

Gillie Da Kid: Nah, I would've never said anything, I wouldn't have had any reason to. I probably would have been trying to reach out to shorty right now to do sh-- with me. You know, you buzzing you doing your thing, I'm buzzing I'm doing my thing, let's get together.

Before Wayne's situation came about, I was already talking to Asylum, I was talking to Atlantic, and I had already met with Interscope, so it's not like I wasn't already in a position to make something happen. When he mentioned me, he just opened up listening ears worldwide. I was throwing parties, I was doing events and it was 3,000 people there, you feel me? So the only artists I know who was doing it like that on an underground level was Jeezy. I had a movement already; Wayne just opened it up to the listeners all over when he mentioned me, and that just made the pot a little bigger.

BallerStatus.com: Even though it was clear Lil Wayne came at you first, a lot of people dismissed your diss as a publicity stunt. Was that frustrating?

Gillie Da Kid: No, it's not frustrating because the people who think that, eventually it's going to come across that he said it first. They going to come across facts, somebody will eventually say, "Nah, you trippin'." For somebody to say that, it shows you right there that they don't know the facts.

BallerStatus.com: A lot of people have commented on Wayne's progression. Do you hear yourself in the new Wayne, and what is it specifically in his flow?

Gillie Da Kid: Like my flow is a little more mature than his, so I see my influence in shorty just like I see it in rappers from Philadelphia like Reed Dollars and Joey Jihad. The only difference is they tell me, "I started rapping because of you, I grew up on your music," so I see my influence in the city of Philadelphia.

I'm past the Lil Wayne situation. He doing him and I'm doing me now. It's only a matter of time before I hit that screen and people say, "Oh, that's that kid Gillie." Now they got something to compare you to, now you really in trouble.

BallerStatus.com: Was there ever any criticism or questioning from people in Philly as to why you were joining a down South crew?

Gillie Da Kid: Actually when I signed to Cash Money, people in Philadelphia was happy. They were like, "Oh we bout to blow! He's Major Figgas, they Cash Money, they go together, you feel me? His vocabulary extends out more than the money, but that's his basis... he street, he hood with it." It was all love.

BallerStatus.com: On your "Marijuana High" DVD, you were showcasing a lot of new up-and-coming talent, what were those rappers relation to you and is it important for you to do that?

Gillie Da Kid: They right now are on the come up and they doing their thing and I'm from Philly, so I extend my hand. The problem with Philadelphia artists in the past, including myself, is when we got to a level where we were at the top, instead of saying, "ok, let's reach and try to pull some people up out the water," we took the attitude like "I'm sh--ting on everybody else." But as you get older, you realize that ain't the way, and now that I did my research and I'm back at the top and forefront of Philadelphia, I'm reaching down, because you learn from your mistakes. Nobody's perfect, but you learn.

So now, I'm reaching down to the Reed Dollars to the Joey Jihads to the Hollowmans. I'm not saying I'm extending my hand to everybody. If you got eight raps and and you talkin' about you trying to do you and you trying to do a song to ride around and listen to with your homies, then that's something different. But if you're trying to do a movement, it's something else.

BallerStatus.com: What's your relationship like right now with established Philly rappers like Beans and Cass?

Gillie Da Kid: We all cool. I'm cool with Beans. I'm cool with Cassidy. We don't have any problems. I haven't done anything with them, but hopefully we can get something done soon.

BallerStatus.com: DJ Drama was supposed to do a tape with you and then went back on it after the Wayne situation. What happened to the music you did for that tape, and how do you feel about his situation.

Gillie Da Kid: I never even put them out. I showed him so much love on that, that I just kinda put that to the background. But I'm a real n----, so I don't wanna see nobody locked up. I wish him the best.

BallerStatus.com: What's good with Major Figgas right now?

Gillie Da Kid: The Figgas album is done right now. We ready to rock and roll.

BallerStatus.com: What is Spade's legal situation?

Gillie Da Kid: He trying to come down on an appeal now, but he got about 3 ½ years more of being in jail before parole.

BallerStatus.com: I've heard you talk about the parties that you throw, so what is a typical Gillie party like?

Gillie Da Kid: The last three parties, I had station, I had a TV station... I had The African American museum that was my last party. I had Dreams. I'm kind of known for throwing crazy parties and I just bring the whole city out and there's never any drama. I bring people out from Baltimore and Jersey and you never know what you're going to see. I have 65 models on the outside. I do it lower level P. Diddy style, that's why they nicknamed me G. Diddy. I actually had the three naked women that you eat off of at one of 'em.

BallerStatus.com: So is it going to be business as usual now that you're out?

Gillie Da Kid: Yeah, actually I'm in the studio right now.

BallerStatus.com: What other projects are on the horizon besides the Best Of Mixtapes?

Gillie Da Kid: I got a mixtape coming out with Cosmic Kev called 3 Kings. That's me, Joey Jihad and Reed Dollars, my three young bucks. We got a Major Figgas mixtape coming out, and another Gillie mixtape coming out with DJ Warrior.
 
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Bitch ass nigga gotta stay in the news somehow.

Personally I have never heard shit he made.

Sounds like a fucking 15 year old in the interview.

Bitch ass niggas like him refuse to mature cause it will limit his sales.
 
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