Young Buck Announces Ten-A-Key Mixtape Series, 9 New Tapes in 9 Months
You said this is just the first in 10 installments over the next 10 months. Do you have a plan for each of them or are you just gonna feel it as you go?
Nah, man, I feel it as I go. I will give you this much: I know I’ve had some of the most amazing things happen for me very, very quick with this preparing of the mixtape series. A lot of guys I didn’t know were fans of Buck have been reaching out, like, “Yo, I gotta be part of this series.” Or, “Yo bro, you really fuckin’ shit up. In fact, I’m producing this whole shit.” And then it’s like, woah, woah, shit, man, I’m finna have to sit down with 50 because this shit is getting really really real. Even from a producer standpoint I got a couple major guys that stepped out, like, “Yo Buck man, what you’re doing is kinda crazy and I wanna be part of it.” I think it would be interesting for the game to see me work with some of these producers, and then for them to actually have a lot of the hit records that you hear out here today, it’s interesting for me to go down that lane. And then to be able to do it for a mixtape series, it’ll be exciting, not just for me and the people working, but for the fans. All I can say is stay tuned at this point, stay focused, and if you ain’t got 10 Bullets you better go get that, because it’s like the kickoff.
I will say that the next one I’m working on, it’s crazy, man. I won’t give you the title—I do got the title ready and I do got four out of 10 songs for the next one that I know I’m going with—so I’m getting ready. I’m gearing up to shoot the video for the single off the mixtape, gonna be “Let Me See It,” and that’s produced by Drumma Boy. So we gonna go with it the right way and push that product as much [as we can] and get ready for the next one coming next month. So that’s where I’m at with it, man.
I was listening to the tape and it seems like you were kinda testing out different flows, rapping more disciplined, almost. Flows you’re not used to hearing from Young Buck, but that made it seem more fresh.
To be all the way honest with you, everything that you’ve heard from Young Buck since I’ve been out of prison, I have yet to pick up a pencil and paper. So I haven’t sat down and wrote anything, nothing. So anything you hear from me—throughout the EPs, Before The Beast, any freestyles, anything—it’s really just me walking in the booth at the time and giving you me. I’ve been playing around with my flow because I’ve always felt like, the exciting thing about hip-hop for me and the artists I love is watching them reinvent themselves each time they come around. I don’t think you can stay in the same pocket, and I don’t think the fans want to hear the same things, they want to see the artist evolve and grow and try different things. So I’m in that growing process, man. I’ve never been scared of trying different things with the music, so I’m in the process of growing and still trying to actually really find my sound. I’ve came into my own as an artist but I’m still trying new things.
I don’t think I’ll ever find my sound because I’m a guy who was born and raised in the South. But what makes Young Buck who Young Buck is is the mixture of the different cultures that I’ve been a part of throughout my life. I’ve been a real part of the East Coast, I’m a real part of the West Coast, I’ve laid my head and lived at these different places and they’ve became a part of me. So even though my birthplace is the South, I’ve developed this sound of music that’s almost a mixture of everywhere. And there’s only a few artists that get that, that you’re gonna hear on the West Coast rotating to the South, or the East Coast rotating to the South. No disrespect to the culture or anything, but some cultures are driven on certain sounds of music or certain ways that they receive the music. And if you don’t give it to them in a way that they’re able to relate to you then it doesn’t work. I can’t go be like you, but I can give it to you the way that I can, and if you can relate to the way I’m giving it to you then you can relate to me. And that’s Young Buck, bro.
I think that’s the void in hip-hop, is that music doesn’t really have a lot of the Buck’s, meaning the individuals that give you the reality, the mixture of it all. I’m one who can get on a record and tell you, “I’m gonna bust ya fuckin’ head” and mean it. Then I can get on another record and tell ya girl, “I fuck her like I love her,” and then I can get on another record and say, “Lord, forgive me,” you know? It’s all real, though. And the fact that I’m really from it and really out here in it—I’m in the middle of the cut as we speak getting my car washed talking to you, homie—I’m washing the police hit the corner right now. So what I’m saying is, I’m different as a person than your average artist, and it reflects over to my music. My music is a reflection of the environment that I’m from and I’m actually still in. So when you get it from me, you’re getting it from someone who is really there, [even though] in the eyes of the fan, I’m really not. I’m so much away from here. I shouldn’t be where I’m at right here.
But this is the thing. I’m not an individual that’s here to say, “I’m from it,” or, “I’m still in it.” I’m only in this shit by force, not by choice. And when I say I’m here by force it’s because I’ve created things within this environment where I have no choice but to remain here, whether it’s my restaurant that is still in the middle of the gutter, in the hood. I’m still active with the sports and things like that for the youth throughout my city. All these things are dealing with the people and the children of the hood. So it’s like, you can have success and say, “I’m not gonna be there,” but if you come from it and you build something in it then you’re gonna remain here forever. So I’m one of the guys who will always be involved and part of the hood, I just may not be involved in the things that go on in the hood.
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