This past March, all anyone could talk about was Lil Boosie. Just days after completing a five-year bid at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, Boosie Boo made his first public appearance with a live press conference in New Orleans hosted by Atlantic Records. XXL was on the grounds to get an exclusive post-prison interview, where he opened up about the moment he got out and how that felt.

In this interview (conducted Apr. 23)—about a month and a half later—Boosie’s cool and humble personality immediately sticks out. Wearing a Jewel House t-shirt (his clothing line) and an assortment of gold chains, the “Show The World” rapper was in good spirits during an after-hours visit to the XXL offices. Clearly, Boosie is an album mode, with a string of recent tracks that are keeping his momentum fresh out of the pen that much stronger. He hasn’t announced which tracks will find their way onto the first of his two planned albums, Touchdown 2 Cause Hell, due out July 15, but you can bet he’s got some heat stored in the stash.

We caught up with Lil Boosie for an update on everything that’s been going on in the six weeks since he's tasted freedom again. Keeping his word, TD2CH will be a big comeback with confirmed appearances from T.I., Yo Gotti, and 2 Chainz. He also speaks about reuniting with Webbie, the current state of hip-hop and how he’s never associated himself with the Illuminati. The Return of Mr. Wipe Me Down begins.—Eric Diep

Previously: Motion Family Is The Crew Behind All Your Favorite Rap Videos
Lil Boosie Talks To XXL For His First Interview… Before His Press Conference
Lil Boosie Performs First Post-Prison Concert In Nashville
Lil Boosie Travels The Globe In “Show Da World” Video Directed By Motion Family

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Lil Boosie - Photo by Andrew Link
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XXL: How’s life now?
Lil Boosie: Oh, it’s real sweet. I am selling out arenas. Just locked down on my clothing line deal, Jewel House. Just did recording. I got a lot of things in my favor right now.

What were some of the first things you did when you got out?
Saw all my kids. Ate a steak and loaded baked potato. Got in the tub. That was basically the first thing.

What is your preparation for the album right now?
Really, right now, I am just finishing it up. I got like four more songs to do. Once it gets mixed and mastered, it’s going in the plastic. I’m ready. I’m ready to do what I do and just make positive music.

All eyes are on you. Do you feel pressure to deliver something memorable?
I said that in a song—nobody coming like I am coming. There’s no pressure on me. I could see if I was making the same music that you hear all the time. Then I would have pressure to outdo those people with that kind of music. But I am one of the few that make that real, deep music that touch people’s heart. I kind of feel like I am in my own lane over here, so it's no pressure for me. All I gotta do is do what I do. I ain’t switching nothing up. I ain’t changing nothing up. I’m just making good music. That’s what always got me to where I am at.

You’ve been making that music that a lot of people can relate to.
Right. People can say [that] ‘I went through that.’ He did that to me. She did that to me. That’s why I get people like...you can get somebody to dance and make them jump in the club, but your feet gonna get tired. So when you put it in somebody’s heart, it stick with ‘em. That’s what I come with it. And I can make your feet dance, too. I think that’s what separates me from a lot of artists.

A major person that’s been waiting for you to come out is Webbie. Now that you two have records together, what’s it like being back in the studio with your homie again?
It was just, not as far as the studio, just being out here to see him. Right now, I am just focused on me. Focused on my album and doing what I gotta do to better myself. But after this album, I'ma get in the studio with Webbie. You know, just get ‘em all straight. Get ‘em together and make some more hit records. ‘Cause that’s what we do. Right now, I just gotta focus on me right now. I gotta do me.

He definitely looks up to you. When I spoke with him, he sounded excited to take over the game with you.
Webbie already know that I am the general and I make him work harder also. You know, if I was out, I feel like I could help Webbie in so many ways. He knew that. Now that I get my stuff out the way, I could go in there and make something happen.

It seems you are not going the mixtape route. You are going for an album.
Nah, I am going straight with albums. Now, in between the first album and the second album, I might hit up with a couple of mixtapes. But out the gate, I am going straight with albums. I’m going straight with major albums that bring that big check.

What about a Trill Fam compilation?
Like I say, right now I am focusing on me. We’ll get to that later. I’ll probably drop one of them later on after that second album. And I got my own label, too. Bad Azz Ent. We gonna drop some compilations, too. It’ll be a couple of things in between, but my main focus is going to be my album and building my artists for my own label Bad Azz Ent.

You are on tour right now. How’s that going?
I’m on tour—weekends. Every weekend I am doing it. All I gotta do is fill out my travel request to my PO and they let me go on the weekends. Something that’s going with the label that’s big, big, they’ll let me go on the weekdays also. These last two weeks I have sold out every arena.

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You’ve been on songs with Jeezy and Rick Ross. Do you see yourself signing to CTE or Maybach?
Nah, I don’t see myself [with them]. I am my own boss. I rock with Meek, Ross. I rock with Jeezy, too. Jeezy my big homie. As far as signing with them? Nah. I’m my own boss. I’m finna get my own label deal and sign people. We just collabing and make stuff happen and make good music together. I rather have entities than paperwork. You know, we just make music together and I can take steps from them by them being successful. CTE, Maybach Music. They can show me some things to help make my label and when I join—whoever I go with to make it successful and tell me the ins and outs of what not to do. Give me some pointers. I’m a real dude. I don’t have pride in listening to nobody.

Are there any new cats that you like right now? You were humming the words to Young Thug’s “Stoner” in the elevator.
Nah, I don’t really fuck with him like that. I just like his song. I never met him or anything like that. I heard he with my uncle, Birdman. I don’t really listen to nobody. I gotta keep it real. When I get in the car, I’m listening to as much as me. I ain’t got time to be listening to nobody [else]. I’m still trying to perfect my artwork. I’ve always been like that. If it’s an album I am listening to, it’s probably Tupac’s All Eyez On Me or [The Notorious B.I.G.'s] Ready To Die or [Jeezy's Let's Get It:Thug Motivation 101. I listen to classic albums that I ain’t gotta fast forward. If I gotta fast forward it three times, I don’t like your music. Well, not your music, not your album. Yeah, I don’t like your album.

What do you think of the current state of hip-hop?
I’d just like to say it is trendy. I just would say if one person make a good song and sound something like that, I just feel so many people follow that same song. That makes everything sound similar when people do that. I’m glad they doing that ‘cause I just go right in this lane right here. I go right in this lane with something else so people be like, ‘Okay. This different.’

I think that’s why a lot of people want me back so bad 'cause they wanted that real music back. That was missing when I left the streets. I would just say hip-hop is trendy right now. A lot of people doing the same things, dressing the same. Everything is trendy. Ain’t nothing wrong with that. They just trying to hustle. You see someone else winning, you try to go over here and do something similar. But that put a lot of people on the same mountain. When you put a lot of people on the same mountain, most of y’all fanbases are the same. My fanbase over here, they outcasts. Right? When people listen to it, I get some of them off that mountain too. Come over here. I like when people like my records. It benefits me.

You have a distinct sound. Are you tweaking it in any way to follow today’s standards?
Not at all. My music is gonna be Boosie music. I am not trying to sound like nothing that’s out right now. I think you start to do that when you listen to these guys so much. If you listen to somebody, that’s just life. If you hang around a certain amount of wrong people, you start doing wrong. If you hang around positive people, then you start doing positive things. So when you listen to these dudes, in that same venture, you go and try and make that music that’s similar to them. You are not thinking in your head, but you knowing what you are doing. I know what I am doing to not make it like that, so that’s what I do. My music is going to be different.

Anything else you want to add?
I got my movie script role. My whole biography or life story. Trying to sit down with that in a minute and see how we get that in theaters. ‘Cause I feel like my life story movie gets put in theaters, it’s a sell out. It’s gonna be crazy. I been through a lot. I am just so blessed to be here today to tell my story, man. There ain’t too many people that been through I been through as far as the life I had. The life that was taken away from me. My childhood upbringing. Diabetes. People try to bring me down. Hatred from the system. All kinds of stuff. All this into one movie. A basketball team. Kids. All kind of stuff.

So, once this hits theaters, I think it’ll grab more fans and they’ll be like, ‘Damn, this dude is lucky!’ This dude is lucky to be on his dying bed. ICU, pneumonia for weeks and all this shit. Seventy percent of his homies getting killed. People need to see that. If somebody is still focused enough to make music and keep going and keep smiling and giving back to the community, you need to support this man. A lot of people don’t support you if you characterize as one way to them. A lot of people put me in a bowl of negative stuff, but they never gotten to my music like that to say that. I got music for telling kids to chill out. Talking about God. Talking about single mothers. People read too many articles. If you read too many articles, you gon’ think I’m Mad Max! You know what I am saying? That’s why you can’t judge a book by its cover. That’s what people getting it wrong. I make one violent song or I get in trouble? That overshadows everything that I did. But that’s how it is.

The movie sounds exciting. That’s going to be big.
I think it’s going to be big for me and let people just really see my life story. I just want people to see instead of reading a couple of articles that somebody just put in the paper. They’ll see another side of me, like I am a good father. I come from nothing and I am still humble. A lot of people get money and forgot about what they went through. I never not take a picture. I never not sign an autograph, ‘cause without my fans I’m nothing. I’m back on the corner. I just think people need to see that and stop thinking I am Michael Myers. I got Winnie The Pooh in me. I like to laugh. I like to do all kinds of stuff. I like to water fight! Pillow fight—everything. I am normal.

But you know the media like to blow stuff up. I love God. I’m not no Illuminati. People wrote me jail and told me I need to get out the Illuminati. What is that? Man, I don’t know what y’all talking ‘bout. That ain’t my people man! What is the Illuminati? I said y’all trippin’ man. I’m so mad about that I was like what the hell is you talkin’ about? I don’t know no Illuminati. I read Psalms 35 every night.

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