 Down-South.com recently caught up with Shawty Lo and spoke with him about his background, the hit song "Laffy Taffy", his whisper type flow, Fabo abandoning D4L & more. Read it now.
 Can you introduce yourself?
Shawty Lo: Yeah, whats happenin? This ya boy Shawty L-O. Mr Bankhead, ATL.
I know you got a lot of buzz goin on right now. Just tell me how it feels to be
at this point, havin built the buzz and dropped the album.
Man it feels real good, man. You know I like to put God first, man. It’s been a
long time comin. And, you know, it feels real good right now. Shit, all these
DJs and all my fans, it’s like, without them it wouldna happened.
Give me some background of yourself as an artist. Obviously you started out with
D4L. Tell me how long you been rappin and everything.
Okay well, basically I’m the CEO of D4L. I started D4L in 2003. When I first
started D4L I wasn’t tryin to be no rapper. You know how Baby was to Cash Money,
how Puffy was to Bad Boy.. I was tryin to be the CEO. So that was 2003 when I
started the group. Around 2004 I had got arrested. And I was facin a lotta time.
But God blessed me in the way I came home, just doin one year. I came home July
the 27th of 2005. We had a song "Betcha Can't Do It Like Me" bumpin in the
streets while I was in jail. Three months before I came home they was like Lo we
got another song. It's a hit. And I was like 'lemme hear it'. It was called
“Laffy Taffy”. So, in my head I was like 'that ain't it'. But they was like, boy
I’m tellin you, this is it. And that's all when the snap movement came in. I
wasn't no rapper at the time the situation was goin on. So then when I came home
I recorded a song called "I'm the Man". It was on the D4L album, and people was
comin up to me like: Lo this the type of music we wanna hear from you. So in the
back of my mind I thought I did the song by luck, but I just kept recordin, and
hooked up with DJ Scream in 2006 and did the mix CD. And the rest of it is
history. That's it. I ain't been rappin but like two years, myself, right now.
You come from Bankhead, and Bowen Homes. You’ve seen a lot of acts you know blow
up, in terms of D4L, Shop Boyz, Franchize Boyz. How’s that felt to see so much
success right from your hood?
Basically, they followed my trend. I give shouts out to Shop Boyz, Franchize,
but if you do an interview on them, they'll let you know I'm kinda like the one
that kicked everything off of what’s goin on: like from that movement. It’s… I
guess it's just my time right now.
“Laffy Taffy” was a huge hit obviously. And you guys got a lotta flack from
different people who’d call it bubblegum rap, or whatever. You’ve said that the
style of that song is not really your own personal style. In terms of the
success of that single, would you change anything?
Naw I wouldn't change anything about it, cuz what happened happened. Like I
wasn't on the song "Laffy Taffy". Like I told you, I was in prison. But you know
it was like I'm the CEO of D4L. I really just in the group just to add some
flavor. Cuz if you check my history… I don't like to brag about it, but I was
the d-boy from Atlanta. I was that guy. Like you hear a lotta rappers talking
bout it. I really lived it. I was here just to be the man behind the scenes when
all that was goin on. So like I told you, I ain't started rappin til around like
October of 2005… the song "Laffy Taffy", it just.. I had to get my money. I had
to roll with it. I wasn’t finna like say fuck what could get me some money. I
had to roll with it.
What do you feel about the state of the game? There’s a lotta MCs out there
talkin what you’ve lived…
What I think of it? I can't knock what people doin. I ain't mad at em. People
can rap what they wanna rap, right: to get they money.
But what I'm disappointed
by, some claim to be rappers sayin they from Bankhead.. without mentionin.. They
can't mention Bankhead without acknowledging me. So, you know, that's what I was kinda mad about. I don't really care what a rapper rap about. I know I'm not a
real rap.. I do the music, but I really lived it for real. And the whole Georgia
can vouch for me. You could bring your camera crews to Bankhead, and I'll still
there. When I'm in town I'm there. My studio still on Bankhead. I don't even
have security when I'm at home. And I feel like I'm gettin huge right now. It's
just crazy, man. You can't mention Bankhead without mentioning Shawty Lo.
Having had the success with D4L, obviously you guys had a #1 single, but you
also dropped when things in the music industry are changing. The D4L album
didn’t necessarily move major units, but you did move major ringtones,
downloads. What do you feel about the state of the industry in terms of sellin
records?
Right now, you know, it's a change. Basically the computer done took over right
now. But albums still do sell if your album good. I feel like we had a good D4L
album. We went gold. We went a little over gold. When we first started off I
don't feel like we had a good crew. We let our album come out early without
enough promotion. That album grew. But it was a great album for the movement
that it had goin on at the time.
How’d it come about that you’re releasing Units in the City your own label,
independent, rather than going major?
Well, basically it's a joint venture with Asylum. So basically I feel like a
major could upspring me, but right now I'm doin good the independent way.
Everything I done did, it comes from my staff and Asylum. We done worked all
that up to this point; plus over 6,000 BDS spins and the video doin good. I done
shot a second video, and I had the money to do it basically myself. Everything.
I'd go with a major but right now I feel good what we doin right now,
independent.
You have more mixtapes in the works?
Yeah I'm doin a DJ Scream '08. I'm Da Man '08.
Do you have any advice for other Atlanta rappers, or southern rappers, tryin to
come up behind you?
I give advice to any rapper. It don't gotta be Atlanta, southern. It's just like
you gotta work hard, and basically be yourself. Stop tryin to be everybody else.
Anybody can be like somebody else. But you gotta be creative. Originality sells.
And you gotta give this like 110% man. You gotta work hard. That's what I do. I
work hard. [I hear], Lo you seem like you're just so laid back, you ain't tryin
to do it. But I work hard, man. And right now I got a book comin out. And I got
the DVD in the streets, The Raw Report. You know people been checkin it out like
clips of what's goin on with me. Or you can type my name in and check the Raw
Report clips on YouTube. I got the book comin in April: My Life Story. My
myspace: /therealshawtylo, and you know I got a lotta stuff comin. I got my
groups comin. A lotta people ask me what's up with my group D4L. and you know,
I
sugarcoated it for a long time, cuz I had love for the cat Fabo, but he tried to
venture out and leave the group, on his own. But me and the rest of the group,
we still positive. We still together.
So is Fabo out of D4L? In terms of that success, do you see relationships
changing now that you’re the man in ATL?
I'll say Fabo always welcome in D4L. But he had people in his ear, or whatever.
You know when money come involved, you know, you know how that go. I'm a boss. I
been getting money a long time, man, since like the early '90s. When people come
into money and gettin money.. Everybody wanna be #1. So everybody wanna be boss.
Nobody wanna be Indians no more. Everybody wanna be chief. Like I said I held it
in for a long time. And I'm not holdin it in no more.
I love Fabo and
everything, but, you know, I can't hold it in no more. He ventured off. He
abandoned his group. D4L when we started, it was Down 4 Life. I'm down for my
team. He left the group. Like, shit: it's me now. I wish him much success in the
music game, but nigga took my group and ran, tried to break us up. And I thought
the rest of em wasn't gonna be there. But in some kinda way god blessed me. And
I'm doin my thing right now. And you know, like I said, I hesitated a long time,
by trying to say we still a group, we still family. We still doin the group, but
Fabo he ventured off. He doin his own thing.
There’s a lotta rappers in Atlanta. But the city’s known for having unity. You
been getting a lot of support?
Yeah, we support each other very well, man. Everybody support everybody cuz
everybody know everybody. It’s like the whole movement started around the same
time. Some people might have beef. But beef really ain’t shit, cuz nobody gonna
do shit to nobody. You know, everybody wanna be #1.
Tell me how you came up with your style. You sorta got that whisper flow..
I came with the slow flow man. I don't know where it come from. Girls come up to
me and say: Lo it sound like you whisperin, it sound like you singin. I don't
know where it come from, man. It just came outta nowhere. Like I ain't no
freestyle rapper. I ain't no battle rapper. I don't do none of that type of
shit. I don't even write fast, homie. it might take me a day to write a rap, but
when it come out it gon be right though.
Like you’ve said, you’re relatively new to the music game. But you’ve been in it
a minute, so tell me the difference between Shawty Lo when you started in the
music game, and Shawty Lo now.
Well go get the D4L album and listen to that type of music. And [then] listenin
to my music now, you wouldn't even believe it. You wouldn't even believe it cuz
I wasn't no rapper. If I woulda never did that song [“I’m da Man”] I would
probably never be where I'm at right now. Yeah cuz folks they loved that record
and they was like Shawty Lo you really lived it for real. We know you lived it.
And we can't even vouch for these other rappers talkin they from Bankhead. We
know you lived it. We wanna hear you. And that's what gave me my motivation,
man.
Interview by: B-Down
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