Interview: Houston's Own, Chamillionaire.
I got some phone time with Houston’s own Chamillionaire and asked about his final installment of the Mixtape Messiah series – MM7, what happened to Venom, got his take on his own image in rap and how he sees the media portraying hip-hop. Second half of the interview and review after the jump.
- Why stop at Mixtape Messiah 7? Going with the Biblical theme and stopping at seven or was it just time to focus on other things?
Chamillionaire - It’s just time; I’m a forward thinking person and want go out on a good note, you know? I need to focus on what’s important, which is getting the people the music, so I’m only going to make music that I can do stuff with. I’ve done so many mixtapes, it’s time to get in the studio and think about the albums at this point and focus on the issues I want to tackle through those.
– I’m sure you had goals and ideas in mind when you began the Mixtape Messiah series back in 2004, looking back on it now, how do you see the project and how has it grown?
Chamillionaire - Hype-wise, I think I’ve done all that I can do with the mixtapes. I can’t think of anyone in mixtapes, other than 50 Cent, that’s hustled these tapes as well as me. I don’t think anyone in the world of mixtapes had done it bigger than me. It’s time to move it out from the underground.
– What other projects are you working on? What happened to Venom?
Chamillionaire - Venom? I scratched it. Everyone thought it was a label move but it wasn’t. The concept had changed from what I wanted to do, and I knew how I wanted it to sound, and it wasn’t exactly that. I wanted to reinvent that dark rebelliousness, that anger so it wasn’t Venom anymore. The new project, it’s just a different kind of dope.
– You’ve always been an openly conscientious artist whose shown that commitment through your music. Where do you see yourself in hip-hop? What role do you think you take and what role do you, ideally, want to take?
Chamillionaire - I see myself as a leader, not a follower. A lot of times leaders do things that go against the grain. Those are the things that people remember, to me that type of stuff matters. I could sit here with no conscience and not care, but I’m not trying to be that person. That’s just how I am. I would be lying by saying that wasn’t me.
– What place does the South have in hip-hop, currently. Do you agree with the direction it’s taken?
Chamillionaire - Hip-hop has just changed. It looks differently and women control of a lot of it. The audience is changing. The same people who listened to Slick Rick back in the day – do you think those are the same people that are listening to the music today? And the South’s been here for a minute man. The songs that make people dance in the club, a lot of those are some Southern tracks – they aren’t trying to do brain surgery, they’re just making people move. We’re getting a bit of recognition.
– What’s your take on the mainstream media’s portrayal of hip-hop?
Chamillionaire - Half of it is right and half of it is not. You know, how many people are really, really mad about Jay-Z calling the death of autotune? The media would make it seem like everyone was really serious about that. So issues get taken and half messed with – it’s a half-right illusion. All I know, man, is it aint’ about music anymore.
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