Down-South:
Wassup Banner mane?
David Banner: You dont fuck wit me no more
mane, you hurt my feelings.
Down-South: Mane I been tryin to call you for the past month you got
secretaries and shit now!
David Banner: Mane well let me give you my # right now you ready.......... Thats only
for you, only like 8 people got that number.
David Banner: How you like the song I sent to you?
Down-South: I like just about everything you send me, that shit was
bumpin.
David Banner: You got the underground CD yet?
Down-South: Yea I got that, the whole thang on fire.
David Banner: I'm murderin bitches!!! One thing I want you to put in your article first
dog, is I really appreciate yall brah. I got a schedule, but I dont give a fuck how big I
get dog, you can call on me dog, cause I appreciate you, cause I asked you to do somethin
for me, I asked you to put me next to P, I asked you to put me next to Ludacris, I asked
you to put me next to the muthafuckas and I told you that it was gonna be worth your time,
you remember that?
 Down-South: Yep
David Banner: I want you to put that in your article dog, I told you "Put me next
to them niggas" you makin an investment in me, I'm gonna make it worth your while
dog. And you gotta know that I really really appreciate everything.
Down-South: Shit this right here our 3rd time interviewin you, we aint
interviewed anyone that many times yet!
David Banner: hahahahaha!!
Down-South: OK, on to the interview....Mississippi: The Album, everybody
been waitin on it for like a year now mane, then some people was shocked when you went to
the majors. Why did you decide to not stay indie and move to the majors.
David Banner: I'ma tell you why bra, my vision is more about Mississippi than me and I
want MS to be able to be on MTV. See that's the only thing I couldnt do myself, as you've
noticed I've done everything else by myself. 500 radio spins, covers of magazines, you
feel me...but its like, its just a certain level you cant crack without the majors.
Actually bra, that same album you got, Mississippi: The Album, the independent album, off
of the muthafuckin chain. I had to make changes cause of the samples of stuff.
Down-South: So the album had to change?
David Banner: Yea some changes I didnt like, some I did. And actually my homeboys like
this album better. But I like the first one, cause the first time, its like God talkin to
you. It's like when you in a club and somethin tell you to leave and right after you leave
people get to shootin. I'd say about 90% of the album is the same and really 95% of the
album is better, I put everything I had into this album. They're not expectin to hear this
record comin out of MS, I'm not tryin to be a good rapper, I want to go down in history,
thats what I feel like this records is, is history.
 Down-South: We was talkin about a year ago, and
you were tellin me about Mississippi: The Movie, whats new with that?
David Banner: Yep and the cool thang is I get to put out my underground. I got a
clothin line now too.
Down-South:
Send me some shit mane!
David Banner: Bra, you gotta see my throwbacks, they called Mississippi Pimps.
Down-South: You got some throwbacks?
David Banner: I'm talkin bout real throwbacks. They crazy, you'll see them in the
video.
Down-South: I done seen the video mane.
David Banner: You seen the throwbacks? The Mississippi Pimps?
Down-South: You talkin bout the jersey's?
David Banner: Yea, those are my jersey's, that's the first ones outta my clothin line.
I'm workin B. You gotta think about man, cause there's so many other rappers that yall
could've fucked with and so many rappers that Murder Dog coulda fucked with, you hear me?
So I have an obligation, yall made an investment in me. So now when all the rest of these
muthafuckas talkin shit about David Banner, they can go to your site and pull up on your
site in the archives "YEA WE BEEN ON DAVID BANNER!!!"
Down-South:
I been tellin the A&R's for years about you mane.
David Banner: Thats what makes you a visionary, I just told another magazine a couple
minutes ago, being a visionary is a blessing, but your blessing is your curse. You see
things other people dont see, thats why you are blessed. God has blessed you to have
visions that others dont see, so you cant expect people to support you. God has blessed
you, you are different than everyone. Thats why you have the hits that you have, you
happen to have the top southern rap sites on the internet, one of the top rap sites
period! Thats because you see stuff that other people dont see. So dont worry about them
bustas, it's on now. Tell them to play with that fuck boys!!
Down-South:
Let's talk about the single, when you did the single, did you expect.... godamnit the shit
to blow up like that?
David Banner: No. The Lil Jon song was gonna be my single dog. To tell you the truth
dog, I threw that song together in 15 minutes.
Down-South: "Like A Pimp" 15 minutes?
David Banner:
Yep, I said ok well...I been made the beat, the beat about 2 1/2 years old. I had the
hook, everything been done! That song bout as old as "Take It Off" by UGK. So
its like I just grabbed the song and said Flip would sound good on this. So I was like
cool, let me grab this real quick and I took Flip vocals off later on and put it on
another beat. There was a DJ in Atlanta mane, got heat, he hollered back and said
"This is a fuckin hit, I aint heard nothin like this since Pastor Troy We Ready"
He said, "This is your song, you have been blessed, go and pack your bags you bout to
take a long ride sir" He said this is your song, run with it now. He said the Lil Jon
song is tight, its jammin. But this is a hit, you betta run with it.
Down-South: So from there, how did it spread to the other stations, how
did it get so big with you still being an indie?
 David Banner: What happened was Jackson was of course gonna support us. Hot 107 in
Atlanta picked up on my record, not only did they break it. "Like A Pimp" now
this is in Atlanta now dog, one of the top markets in the united states. Mane it broke
records. Its been on the countdown longer than any other independent or major song in
history. So its like they took my record and Atlanta broke it. All the local artists, all
the local producers got behind me dude, got behind "Mississippi" and thats a
blessing, because you know how many people they got in Atlanta doin records. Then
Birmingham, Birmingham got behind it.
Down-South: I heard some bad things happened to you in Birmingham, about
your van gettin stolen.
David Banner: Let me tell you how good god is. B-Low I been workin so hard dude I aint
slept in my bed for 3 1/2 months. Check this out, do you know where I signed my deal? I
didnt go up to New York to sign my deal. I had to pull off the road at Kinko's, guess
where I signed my deal at.
Down-South: Birmingham....
David Banner: Yes I did. Mane the people in Birmingham love me so much dog, its really
unbelievable. It's like the devil try to do things to
take you down, the devil is gonna try to break you when you doin something positive or
when you get to a point when you alright. You know the best times for your website is
usually when it probably was the hardest. Right before you do what you got to do to take
it to the next level, that's when you attack, you feel me? But Birmingham has been so
supportive to me.
Down-South: What about Houston?
 David
Banner: It was my fault dude, I never released the
record in Houston. The reason why I didnt is because Houston is strong, so I was trying to
break it in other markets and then Houston was gonna be my last market cause the record
had Lil Flip on it and Pimp C on the hook. That's peoples mistakes is cashin in they cards
early. People be sayin, why you not in Mississippi, why you not in Mississippi? I been in
Mississippi all my life, I been promotin in Mississippi all my life. Now is the time for
me to take Mississippi to the rest of the world, you feel me? Now's the time to take
Mississippi on my back and take it to Europe to China. You feel me? If I still got to
promote in my home state like that, that means something is wrong. Like I havent done
something right. So now is the time for me take my people and spread Mississippi all over
the world. Cause if you noticed, they didnt scream my state. They got all these records,
but look at how they sold, they being sold in places like Mississippi, but they never
screamed my name. And ask them where they Grandmama from, ask them where they mama from.
Ask them where they family originated from. It's from places where we from dog. We buy
these records. We buy they records and they turn their backs on us.
Down-South: Thats a good point right there...
David Banner: It's the truth, they dont respect us. The only reason why they deal with
us, is because we sell records.
Down-South: Let me ask you about the album, how many tracks did you
produce on it? I know you got alot of other producers doing some tracks, but how many did
you do?
David Banner: Usually on my albums, I do close to 90% I think on this album I probably
did about 70%. I did most of it.
Down-South: Whats some of your personal favorite songs off of it? I know
you been bumpin the album for over a year now.
 David Banner: Well honestly for a minute I stopped bumpin it all together and I just
started bumpin my underground. The reason why I did that is because I know I'm gonna be
hearing Mississippi: The Album for the next year and a half. I didnt want to get tired of
it. I really put it up and just busted it back out a little while ago, just so I could
learn all the words on it, you know? But actually, my favorite song in the world is
"Ms. Beal" off of the Underground (David Banner Undaground Vol. 1) I love that
song. That and the "Ohh Ahh" and "Bout Our Money"
Down-South: At this point we ran out of time, of course he had other
interviews to do and I was supposed to hit him up on his cell after he got through with an
MTV committment to finish it up, but he was busy the whole night handling press and the
rest of the week wasnt much better. So we figured we had enough anyway with our now 3rd
interview of Mr. MS.
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