Lloyd Banks On His Frustrations With The Music Industry And Getting Back With G-Unit

Lloyd Banks
The Quiet One
Interview by Miranda Johnson

He might be the quiet one but there’s a lot going on in Lloyd Banks’ head. That’s usually the case with the lyrically dexterous MC who stood out in G-Unit partly because of his aloofness. Soon after Buck and 50 stopped communicating, Banks and 50 followed suit. They made up for a while before falling out again around 2012. Most recently, about two years had gone by since the two Queens artists had last talked to each other. In that time, Banks continued to tour and release new music, while becoming more jaded by the changes in the industry. When Yayo made his comments on Instagram in February, Banks reached out to 50 to explain that he had nothing to do with what Yayo had said. It was that call that got Fif and Banks talking again. While hanging in the strip club in 50’s mansion, Lloyd Banks looks back at the drama.

XXL: So what was it that made you part ways with 50 Cent and G-Unit?
Lloyd Banks: I can’t say that any issue I had caused the group to split up because there were four people in the group. I think that all of us had our spots. It’s not coincidental that most of them were with 50; he’s the boss, the person that put everything together. Everything from confusion to compromising—all those things ended up being based around the artists and the boss at the end of the day. Everybody had their own reason as to why it didn’t work out. From moments with me and 50, to Buck and 50, and Yayo and 50. It was a point where me and 50 weren’t talking. It got exhausting, then it got frustrating to the fans. People would have been more mad if we didn’t get back together, as opposed to just doing our own thing.

So you were in contact with Buck and Yayo during the rift?
Me and Yayo always remained in contact. That kind of kept things balanced for me. You got that friend, a friend who understands the street shit and the industry. So we’ve been there, done that. So that was cool. Me and Buck didn’t keep in contact, we didn’t speak. We were never in the position to. I never bumped into him along the way or anything like that. I’ve done promo and stuff like that in Nashville but I never saw him. But it would always be that question like, “Why you don’t call Buck?” Even at that time, I didn’t understand. Buck was going through what he was going through with 50, but we were kind of like incorporated into that. You just assume at the time that it’s us against [him].

Me, personally, I’ve never been like a social network type of guy so I don’t put that business out for nobody, and not just music business, my personal business. People say things they don’t mean sometimes. My family members, my parents, sometimes they say shit and [I’m] like, “Damn why you say that?” I think that the stronger the relationship is, the more you’ll see the dysfunctional parts because if you don’t give a fuck about somebody, it’s gonna show. But if you really do and it’s irking you that it’s not right then, it’s never really going to go somewhere.

You’ve been out of the picture for a minute. What motivated you to want to fully get back in the game?
Being around [G-Unit] to be honest. I wouldn’t participate in a lot of the things I do, as fast as I do, without them. At the end of the day, I enjoy being around the members and putting music together. I’m able to be ignorant when I’m with G-Unit. And I got older; I’m 32-years-old. The things that I said earlier, the shock value type of lines, now it’s moreso like I’m saying shit that you can hold onto. [Things] that you can tattoo on your skin.

I’m seeing that the response is crazy. There’s people everyday that listen to music to get through something and then you got that music that you just enjoy. I want to do both. I want to do that shit that you’ll go back because it had subject matter opposed to just hot line after hot line. When I’m with the group, there’s eight bar cadences, it’s not too much time, so it keeps me writing more. Just on my toes and it helps me be able to go out there and get the visuals that people want to see. There’s a method to my madness. I would rather drop my video without you seeing behind the scenes.

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