Kidd Kidd Explains How He Linked Up With G-Unit

Kidd Kidd
The New Member
Interview by Eric Diep

Most new rappers would probably look at New Orleans rhyme slinger Kidd Kidd as lucky. Sure he missed out on The Unit’s hey day and didn’t ink with G-Unit Records until the crew was already broken up, but still, the history and power of the brand will always be respected purely for what they accomplished. And being close to 50 Cent is always a plus for a new artist. But with the reunion Kidd Kidd’s found himself instantly bonding with Banks, Buck and Yayo and his lyrical style has helped him fall right into the fold, as proven with his work on the clique’s recently released music and newly released EP, The Beauty of Independence. While laid back in one of Fif’s numerous living rooms, Kidd Kidd offers his perspective on G-Unit.

XXL: As the newest member of G-Unit, what is your role?
Kidd Kidd: They legends. You gotta think about growing up, who wasn’t a G-Unit fan? A 50 Cent fan? Especially, you didn’t even have to be living that life that they had. You still just a fan of the energy and what they brought to the game. Just being in that whole atmosphere. ’Cause real talk, when I came, everybody wasn’t back around. It was always like, “Damn, I wish everybody could be back right now.” But for real, on some other shit too, it was like, people got a hard time accepting the fact that Fif got me with the group. They look at it like, “Oh, you not Game. You trying to replace Game?” I’m like, “Damn, y’all keep coming up with different people.” First, y’all was saying I’m trying to replace Banks. Then y’all said I am trying to replace Buck. Now, everybody back, y’all saying I am trying to replace Game.

People gotta understand that I am an addition. Even if we wouldn’t have been back together, I’ll still’ve been Kidd Kidd with G-Unit. My style and my form of rap, we all bring something different to the table. When we in the booth, you can hear it in these songs. I just want to put that out there. I’m not replacing them. I am an addition. I’m the 2014 G-Unit.

What are your thoughts on the reunion?
I still get the chills. [I’m] with people [I] grew up listening to and everything. And I mean, really, really listening to. I can probably rap each one of these dudes' CDs front to back. When I am on stage with them, I still get that fan mode. Sometimes, you’ll catch me just pausing and just looking at everybody. It’s like, “This is me up here.” It’s still unbelievable to a lot of people. When I'm around Fif and them, I see it as the same thing. It just all falls in perfect ’cause we all somewhat share the same story. The chemistry is already [there] and everything else came.

So you got along with everyone in the group from jump?
That’s how it is right now. We a family now. I don’t even call these guys my peers. I call them my brothers. That’s how they treat me. They treat me like my brothers. And I treat them like my big brothers. I know if I need anything, anything. As far as “Oh, you wanna play? I’ma go get my big brothers for you.” That’s how I look at them dudes. It’s love. For real, for real.

How is G-Unit different than any other crew to you?
Difference with G-Unit is 50. 50 is gonna make sure you are doing everything right. He’s gonna hip you to the business because you are coming from the streets. This is nothing you can go to school for. You learn from every mistake you make. And being with cats like 50, he’s gonna make sure that you don’t have to make those mistakes.

You have the same first name as 50 Cent and you’ve been shot before just like him. Tell me the story behind that.
Since I am a small dude and small body, some people can’t even survive one. Not even a stab wound. The story on that is real deep, as far as street-wise because...like me, personally, where I come from, the city is so much on top of each other. It’s so small. Everybody knows everybody. It’s like, people get into things and even the things that you did in the past, it always come back on you. I always felt me getting shot was a karma thing. I’m past it now. I'm good. I survived. Can’t say the same for, you know, but I'm still here.

How old were you?
This happened like two years ago. That wasn’t that long ago. [Laughs] So, two years ago, cooling, talking to my mom. I was already so much into things. Around this time, I had just met 50 Cent. I just met him for about a week or whatever. He flew back to New York. You know, I’m still in the trap. That was our first time meeting each other. He’ll tell you. Our first time meeting each other, he called me. He was shooting a movie in New Orleans. So, I come to the studio bus. He had a studio bus. It was me, my partner Rider Man. We come through, we got choppas. We come loaded because we were already in so much beef. Me, personally, before I met 50 Cent, I always felt like a lot of industry cats, they not who they say they are. By him accepting the aura, he a real one because he didn’t look at it and was like, “Oh, nah. Go ahead. Y’all can leave after all this.” He accepted it.

You came with guns to the studio?
Of course. It’s real. Let me tell you, it’s real. New Orleans, if you're in beef, and anybody from New Orleans, if they real New Orleans, they would let you know. They not about to come to no kind of shootout with just a hand gun. You gotta have something with at least 30 shots. At least. At least. At least, bruh. So you know, that’s how we came. You gotta think about it—we was already strapped up. We was on some bullshit. When I go get the car, “Come see me.” I’m coming to see you, this is how we roll. I gotta roll like this. Anytime, anything could happen. I met him and everything and everything was cool. From that, he was like, “I'm fucking with you. I like your shit.”

Because what people say is real recognize real. That’s a true saying. That’s a real true saying. He recognize real as far as what I'm saying in my lyrics. And stuff like that. If you go back to the “Niggas Be Schemin’” joint that we did. That was one of the first joints we did when we first met. If you listen to my music, 'cause a lot of people, they hear the music, but they not really listening. Like, you listen to my music and you follow me, you can really pinpoint a lot of things that I say that’s really real. Like the “Niggas Be Schemin’” song, I said, “They got change on Lil Mike, I ain’t tryna see him killed / I told 'em that’s my cuz, I don’t wanna see nothin’ happen to him / ’Cause when I start spittin’ at 'em, I ain’t rappin’ to 'em.” When I did that song, I actually had my cousin Mike in the studio van with me. 50 Cent met him and everything. After that, he got killed. It’s real. That’s the only way I know how to rap. It might sounds like it's bars. Like, “Oh, man, he spits bars.” 'Cause it's so much truth in those bars. Like my city, they know it. The world wouldn’t really look at it like that. He’s a kid, he’s rapping and stuff like that.

Long story short, after I met 50 Cent and everything. He left. He went back to New York or something like that. A week later, I got shot up. I got shot up in front of my mom. 32 times. I only caught six, you feel me? Like I said, surviving. What really made me respect 50 Cent, too, he was one of the first people to call my phone. Like when I was in the hospital bed, my phone was dead. I charged my phone up and I finally turned it on. He was one of the first people calling me. You gotta think about it, this is 50 Cent. Calling my phone. I really needed that. I ain’t gonna lie—I needed that. At the time, my mind, I was filled up with so much anger. So I really needed that phone call from him to let me know like, “When you heal up, it’s on. You know I got you. We are gonna do this and do that." He was telling me about his situation as far as when he got shot and how the labels and everything backed up off of him and stuff like that. He was just like, “Yo, I ain’t about to do that.” That struck me, you know? From inside, he’s a guy that doesn’t have to do a lot of things that he does, as well as for the rest of my brothers that’s here. For real, there are a lot of things he doesn’t have to do for me.

As soon as I got out of the hospital, I went to therapy once. You know once you get shot, you gotta go to therapy and all that. I went to therapy one time. He came back to New Orleans 'cause he was shooting a movie at that time. Just so happened it was the same day I went to therapy. I’m getting out of therapy. It’s like 10 in the morning. Getting out of there. He calls and he like, “Yo, you out of the hospital?” I’m like, “Yeah. I'm just leaving therapy.” He’s like, “Come see me at the hotel.” I go see him at the hotel, right? So he’s like, “I got this joint I want you to hear.” So he played the song, it was the song “Haters.” With me, Tony Yayo. I hear it.

He’s like, “You like it? You want to get on it?” It’s not like I'ma tell you no. Hell yeah! He was like, “Alright, cool. What you doing today?” I’m like, “Trying to stay alive.” He’s like, “Alright.” This and that. Such and such. Book him a flight. “Alright, we going to Atlanta today and we gonna go record the record.” I’m like, “Damn, like that?” He didn’t even get me a chance to get prepared. I still got staples. You know, I got the colostomy bag. I’m barely moving. I’m like, “Damn, alright, let’s do it.”

We went out there. I recorded the record right. He’s like, “Alright, cool. We shooting a video for tomorrow.” Stuff like that. I’m like, “Damn.” You know? It just happened so fast. Right after we shot the video, two days later, he’s bringing me overseas. He really saved me and he calmed me down. There’s no telling where I would be right now. For real. If I woulda been stuck in that city, I woulda been stuck in that same mentality.

He showed you a different side of the world.
Exactly. I was like, I'm trying to spread that to the rest of my family. My peers and my friends. It’s much better than what we think. It’s a whole 'nother better world. 'Cause I’ve been through a lot and I’ve been through a lot of ups and downs as far as with the music. It kind of made me feel like it's not real. Until I met Fif. He showed me that it was real. That’s why I feel like this is where I'm supposed to be. At one time, I was with Lil Wayne and all those cats. I was on the “Mrs. Officer” song. You know that.

What are your thoughts on the reunion? You said yourself that you wished these guys were back together, and now they're all around you. You're on stage with them at Summer Jam.
It’s still unbelievable to a lot of people. When I'm around Fif and them, I see it's the same thing. They went through the same exact thing. A lot of people still can’t believe that they made it. It just all falls in perfect 'cause we all somewhat share the same story. The chemistry is already [there] and everything else came. Like before, Banks was already around. I always ran to him in clubs and stuff. And it was always love. So when I did come, it wasn’t like, “Oh, here comes Lloyd Banks.” And this and that. Nah, we been met each other. We been cool outside of 50 Cent.

What about Yayo?
Yay, since I came around, he’s like my big bro. Like, for real. He just schooled me to everything. Showing me certain things like how I should do this. How my stage presence should be. Stuff like that. He made me real, real comfortable because it’s hard trying to fit in. But it’s really hard feeling like you had to fit in.

I know you mentioned the Cash Money situation and I know you were with Wayne for a while. Why is G-Unit the better spot for you? You had to make that transition at some point.
As far as with Young Money and stuff like that... Like I said, the difference between them and G-Unit is we share the same history. As far as G-Unit, the money situation, it was more like an, “Okay, I’m New Orleans.” I got hooked up with Wayne through mutual people. Shout out to Wayne, too. If it wasn’t for him, people wouldn’t know who I am. So shout out to Wayne. And to this day, we still holler at each other. We still keep a close contact. There’s no bad blood. He happy to see me in a good position. Doing what I'm doing.

Shout out to Drake, too. When he came on board, he was there. What I respect about Drake though, and what a lot of people don’t know, he be saying some real shit. It be sleek shit, but it be real shit. The song where he said, “I had hit records on my demo” ["Trophies"] I said, “Ooh, that nigga ain’t lying.” When I came, he came with the “Forever” track. That’s how I was able to be on the original one. “Stunt Hard.” He even had the song, “Money To Blow.” For real, that was actually on his demo. We sat there and heard it. To see all that blow up now and to see him in the space that he’s at right now, I be like, “Yo, that’s dope.” I can’t do nothing about that. I tip my hat to him. It shows you being focus and being business-minded.

What are you most excited about now that G-Unit is back?
I’m excited that everybody gets to relive the next [chapter]. I get to live it for the first time. I’m just excited because I never been on a platform like today in my life. If you ask me this type of questions about two-three years, I’ll probably be like, “Fuck this. I’m trap. Nigga, fuck this rap shit. I’m a trap nigga. Fuck that.” I’d be on some other shit. Now, I’m really focused. I’m grown up. And I’m ready. I went to training camp. I’m ready.

Do you see yourself dropping your mixtape #RG soon?
Of course, I got a few mixtapes. I got a few mixtapes that’s ready. That’s why you hear me shouting out different names of mixtapes. #RG. Street Fame. Fuk Da Fame. I got all of these joints that’s ready. But on the low, I dropped the Fuk Da Fame: American Trapstar that I did for New Orleans. Just for New Orleans. I gotta feed my streets. If anything, I gotta feed the streets. Like down there, everybody look up to me. Everybody expecting me to do it. Carry the torch for Soulja Slim. Rest in peace to Soulja Slim. I gotta do that. I gotta be that voice for New Orleans. Because a lot of people didn’t make it out. Shout out to Cash Money. Shout out to No Limit. A lot of people made it out and did their thing.

I want to talk about a certain lyric from “I Am.” You said “I am the whole G-Unit, with Game and Buck.” What did you mean by that?
I rapped that. What I'm saying is, I am all of these people. I am all these legends of hip-hop. I am that. I am everything you could want in all of us. When it comes to rap, I could be that. Like, I'm that as far as the group goes. Before everybody was back, “Oh, man. We need such and such back. Get Kidd out of here.” So I'm just letting people know, I am the whole G-Unit, with Game and Buck. For real. I’m hunned. That’s the only way I know how to keep it. 100 percent. It’s real over here.

Filed Under: 50 Cent, Feature, featured, G-Unit, G-Unit Takeover, issue 156, Kidd Kidd, XXL Magazine

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