Currently, we are living in an era of situational ethics. Often times our actions are ruled by hedonism and immaturity. Many of these hedonistic desires are intertwined with dire ramifications that impact countless young lives. It is here while one is down that his character is truly tested. At this crucial time he will react in one of two ways: he will embrace change or he will become trapped in complacent stagnation. The journey towards transformation can be an arduous one. But, it is a journey that is more than capable of being completed.
Alfamega is an example of an individual who has undergone and an intense internal metamorphosis. The four dismal tattooed tears that trickle down from his left eye are a testament of his former life. Perhaps, they are a silent echo of those that have drowned in the streets. While he was locked up in a malignant prison environment, Alfamega made a life changing decision -- it was time for a definite change. Now, hip-hop is his muse and countless people will be affected by his decision to transform himself from a male into a man.
BallerStatus.com: Is it true that you christened yourself Alfamega, after having a dream while you were incarcerated?
Alfamega: Christened myself? I am a Muslim.
BallerStatus.com: Is it true that you named yourself Alfamega after that dream?
Alfamega: (laughing) Yes, ma'am.
BallerStatus.com: What makes you the unadulterated truth?
Alfamega: Because, I'm me.
BallerStatus.com: Can you elaborate?
Alfamega: I'm just me. I'm what anybody else pretends to be. I'm everything that you can think of that you don't want to be.
BallerStatus.com: Is that good or bad?
Alfamega: It's really a good thing. [I'm] the things that you try to hide, [the things] that you know you are.
BallerStatus.com: Prison bars were incapable of confining your reputation as a lyrical assassin. How have you proven this point?
Alfamega: Did you hear the song "Hurt"?
BallerStatus.com: Yeah.
Alfamega: Did I prove I was a lyrical assassin?
BallerStatus.com: It was a little ferocious.
Alfamega: Okay, that's an assassin, an assassin is not nice. It's ferocious like a lion.
BallerStatus.com: "Trust me you don't want me up in your crib / With a ski mask on duct taping your kids..."
Alfamega: "You can pray all you want but I don't forgive / You should'a been doing that before you did what you did..."
BallerStatus.com: Where does all this hostility come from?
Alfamega: It comes from the lifestyle that I lived before, a lot of stuff that I saw.
BallerStatus.com: Are you doing anything to purge these diseased feelings?
Alfamega: I'm exorcising those feelings by putting [them] in lyrics. You'd rather for me to be saying those things than doing those things. Right or wrong? That was a good answer wasn't it?
BallerStatus.com: A very good one. (shared laughter) You're known as the Grand Hustle Muscle. How tall are you and how much do you weigh?
Alfamega: 6'4", 250. It's not fat either.
BallerStatus.com: Is it all muscle?
Alfamega: Not exactly, read between the lines. (erupts with laughter)
BallerStatus.com: You're making me blush. Which is more intimidating, your size or your lyrics?
Alfamega: The third leg. The size is intimidating. It even scares me (spews laughter).
BallerStatus.com: Do you have proof? (laughing) Come on, stop giving me the blues.
Alfamega: It's probably my size.
BallerStatus.com: Do you think your lyrics help to bolster what you were physically blessed with?
Alfamega: Not necessarily, it's the whole package.
BallerStatus.com: In your case, do your lyrics always reflect your lifestyle or do you ever use poetic license?
Alfamega: I try to be well rounded with it. (Pauses to take a personal call)
BallerStatus.com: Seven years, four days, five hours, thirty-two minutes and sixteen long-ass seconds. How did the time you spent, confined in prison, help to shape you to be the man that you are now?
Alfamega: It showed me how to be a grown man instead of a grown male. It taught me how to be a man of my word. [It's] like whatever I'ma do, I'll do it. It taught me how to take a negative and turn it into a positive. It showed me that if you like doing something negative and you're working hard at it and being successful with it, you can do the same thing -- [being] positive and become double successful with it, and remain free.
BallerStatus.com: Why did it take that situation to show you that?
Alfamega: You got to understand the environment I came up in. I came up in the first projects in the United States; I came up in Techwood projects. I was in and out of the system since I was nine years old. So, when we were younger, when we were in and out [of the system], it was a badge. We were so ignorant and naïve to the fact that we thought it was a badge of honor to go in and out of jail. Ya feel me?
BallerStatus.com: With that being said, what can you tell me about KOTU Global?
Alfamega: KOTU is a real estate [organization] and all that. Everything is kinda shaky right now. We're holding back on messing with the real estate, you know, because the market is messed up. And then I got the Hundred Kings foundation. It's a foundation I'm setting up where we find a hundred underprivileged young youth [from] across the United States. Whatever they want to be in life, I'm putting them with a mentor that's been successful in that field to guide them.
BallerStatus.com: Is this organization already off the ground? How can interested parties gain more information about it?
Alfamega: My publicist [Kim Ellis] is doing everything with it now, putting everything together.
BallerStatus.com: While you were incarcerated, you met Mac Dre. In 2005 this Bay Area icon was murdered in a drive-by shooting in Kansas City, MO. Where were you when you learned of his untimely passing?
Alfamega: When I found out Mac Dre was dead, Mac Dre had been dead for six months. I didn't even know it. And, I was in Atlanta.
BallerStatus.com: How'd y'all meet?
Alfamega: We were in prison on the yard. He was an inmate with a number, I was an inmate.
BallerStatus.com: You didn't care about what he had accomplished outside of the bars?
Alfamega: When you're in prison, shh** ... I was in prison with John Gotti. I was in prison with Mike Gisetta and the leader of his military mob family. I was in prison with a lot of people with names. When you're in prison, it really don't matter who you were when out, you in prison now.
BallerStatus.com: Was he or was he not the first one who showed interest. He knew that you would make it to the next level?
Alfamega: Yeah, he was the first one who told me. He was the first guy that told me, "If you don't get a deal when you get out, the game is rigged." When me and Mac used to talk, it wasn't like, "Man, this is Mac Dre." It was like, that's Dre, you feel me? We laughed, joked, stood on the yard, talked sh**. All kinds of sh**, it wasn't just, "He is Mac Dre."BallerStatus.com: In 2002 you had the opportunity to sign with Beanie Sigel, what happened with that?
Alfamega: Basically, Beans had a roster. Beans is a hell of a businessman. Beans had a roster of artists, he had State Property. His statement was, "Start hanging around..." But, I had a plan, I had an agenda. I came home with a vengeance to get me a record deal. Nothing was in the plan of sitting around waiting on him. I did that in prison.
BallerStatus.com: When the opportunity came around with Universal you capitalized on that? How long were you with them? What went awry with that relationship?
Alfamega: All day, everyday. From the beginning of 2002 to the end of 2004. Differences, monetary differences.
BallerStatus.com: Did you make up any dances while you were there? Weren't you part of their Crunk Movement?
Alfamega: Do I look like a n**** that dance? (begins to laugh)
BallerStatus.com: [laughing] So, you don't dance, you don't boogie?
Alfamega: I don't do none of that. I had a song with Lil Jon called "A-Town Stomp." That wasn't really a dance; it was a thing that came about from the Westside of Atlanta. You know, you got a hit song in Atlanta when you can see someone get stomped the f*** out in the club. When you see someone get stomped out to a song, that's a f***ing hit. (laughs) So, that's how the "A-Town Stomp" thing came about. But, no dancing, I'm not a dancer, baby. You gotta go see Ray J and all them. There's nothing wrong with dancing, Ray J is my partna. Soulja Boy got you covered.
BallerStatus.com: How would you define music business success?
Alfamega: Do you want it from materialism or a way of touching someone?
BallerStatus.com: Both.
Alfamega: Both? You're well rounded with it. I feel that any artist that starts his own label, he's not a successful CEO until he puts out an artist that surpasses his success.
BallerStatus.com: You are a grown man. That answer reflects maturity. How did you meet T.I.? Was it from being on the Westside of Atlanta?
Alfamega: The Westside of Atlanta, baby. All day, everyday, 24-7, 365. [And] 366 on a leap year.
BallerStatus.com: What traits do you possess that would compel him to invest his time and resources into helping to cultivate you as an artist?
Alfamega: I am the streets. You don't get it do you? I had a name in the streets before I had a name in the industry. You know how they say, "This dude ain't did that." Well, say hello to the Boogie Man.
BallerStatus.com: Grand Hustle is the foundation of your lyrical legacy. In what ways does your creativity complement those associated with Grand Hustle?
Alfamega: Grand Hustle started out as a street label. I am the streets. I'm bringing you the pictures of Atlanta that nobody's ever brought to you. When Ludacris and Jermaine Dupi put out their "Welcome to Atlanta," like me and TIP said ... we have a song called "Westside OG," that ain't the Atlanta I know, buddy. The Atlanta y'all saw was the party side. That's what I tell everybody, "y'all saw the party side. Come on down in the hood, come on down deep in the hood." The movie "ATL" ain't really what Atlanta is. We're not doing no roller skating.
BallerStatus.com: Why did you choose "Uh Huh" as the initial single? Given your reputation I thought you'd pick more of a lyrical song?
Alfamega: Man, I'm celebrating, I made it. When I made it, the whole hood made it. One of us finally made it.
BallerStatus.com: So, you're showing it's okay to be happy?
Alfamega: You don't think it's okay to be happy? A lot of dudes want to be happy. They wish that they were free.
BallerStatus.com: While doing research I came across your song "The New South," and I love it. Will this be released as a single anytime soon?
Alfamega: Nah, that's something I threw out there. Something I threw out there to let people know what I was pissed off at the time. You know when I get pissed off, I say what's on my mind.
BallerStatus.com: It was so eloquent.
Alfamega: That turned you on, got you all hot and bothered?
BallerStatus.com: No, the nasty one that that I liked was "Get on Yo Knees." That was a nice song.
Alfamega: Oh, you like "Get On Yo Knees," why'd you like it?
BallerStatus.com: It was for a mature audience.
Alfamega: Talking about sucking it from the back and all that.
BallerStatus.com: Oooh weeee.
Alfamega: (laughing) We're supposed to be doing an interview, girl.
BallerStatus.com: I know, right? And you got me with a big dumb a** smile.
Alfamega: I had to get my number changed. I put my number on that song, you heard it. I was getting calls from strippers from everywhere. "Is this really you, when you coming to this city?" I got so many calls I had to change my number quick. I'ma put out a new one though. I think I'ma get more freakier. I seen Plies trying to steal my little shine. He stole my little thing and ran with it. I was like "Okay, that's how he play." I should'a stuck to it, I'ma get him though.
BallerStatus.com: If Grand Hustle is the kingdom and T.I. is the king, how have the tribulations that he's endured as a leader affected his reign? How has these circumstances affected you?
Alfamega: He's still on top of everybody. Check the sales this week. It went from 850,000 to 1.2, baby. He ain't fell off. He's still the leader, everybody makes mistakes. Can't nobody judge nobody until you walk in his shoes. You feel me? Let's do this right here. We had a conversation one day, do you think it's wrong if a woman f***ed over 100 men? So, I asked my man and them if they would marry a woman if she done had over a hundred men in her life that she f***ed before. People told me "No." I said, "She'd marry you and you done f***ed over a hundred women." That means you can't judge nobody, right?
BallerStatus.com: But, a lot of people haven't achieved that kind of maturity. We hold y'all on a pedestal. We are very judgmental.
Alfamega: That's why we are grown men and not grown males. Some dudes say, "You don't hit a woman." No, if you disrespect me I'ma smack your ass.
BallerStatus.com: What?
Alfamega: Sit down.
BallerStatus.com: A woman? As juicy as you are, you would hit a woman?
Alfamega: If you stay in a woman's place then I'ma treat you like a woman. If you jump up like you're a man, you're going to get dealt [with] like you're a man.
BallerStatus.com: So, if she was just fussing at you, you'd knock her in the jaw?
Alfamega: I wouldn't knock her in the jaw, I'd smack her across the head. Right across her weave, knock one of her tracks out.
BallerStatus.com: That's too expensive for all that.
Alfamega: That's too expensive, then just sit down because you can't handle me. (laughs)
Alfamega is an example of an individual who has undergone and an intense internal metamorphosis. The four dismal tattooed tears that trickle down from his left eye are a testament of his former life. Perhaps, they are a silent echo of those that have drowned in the streets. While he was locked up in a malignant prison environment, Alfamega made a life changing decision -- it was time for a definite change. Now, hip-hop is his muse and countless people will be affected by his decision to transform himself from a male into a man.
BallerStatus.com: Is it true that you christened yourself Alfamega, after having a dream while you were incarcerated?
Alfamega: Christened myself? I am a Muslim.
BallerStatus.com: Is it true that you named yourself Alfamega after that dream?
Alfamega: (laughing) Yes, ma'am.
BallerStatus.com: What makes you the unadulterated truth?
Alfamega: Because, I'm me.
BallerStatus.com: Can you elaborate?
Alfamega: I'm just me. I'm what anybody else pretends to be. I'm everything that you can think of that you don't want to be.
BallerStatus.com: Is that good or bad?
Alfamega: It's really a good thing. [I'm] the things that you try to hide, [the things] that you know you are.
BallerStatus.com: Prison bars were incapable of confining your reputation as a lyrical assassin. How have you proven this point?
Alfamega: Did you hear the song "Hurt"?
BallerStatus.com: Yeah.
Alfamega: Did I prove I was a lyrical assassin?
BallerStatus.com: It was a little ferocious.
Alfamega: Okay, that's an assassin, an assassin is not nice. It's ferocious like a lion.
BallerStatus.com: "Trust me you don't want me up in your crib / With a ski mask on duct taping your kids..."
Alfamega: "You can pray all you want but I don't forgive / You should'a been doing that before you did what you did..."
BallerStatus.com: Where does all this hostility come from?
Alfamega: It comes from the lifestyle that I lived before, a lot of stuff that I saw.
BallerStatus.com: Are you doing anything to purge these diseased feelings?
Alfamega: I'm exorcising those feelings by putting [them] in lyrics. You'd rather for me to be saying those things than doing those things. Right or wrong? That was a good answer wasn't it?
BallerStatus.com: A very good one. (shared laughter) You're known as the Grand Hustle Muscle. How tall are you and how much do you weigh?
Alfamega: 6'4", 250. It's not fat either.
BallerStatus.com: Is it all muscle?
Alfamega: Not exactly, read between the lines. (erupts with laughter)
BallerStatus.com: You're making me blush. Which is more intimidating, your size or your lyrics?
Alfamega: The third leg. The size is intimidating. It even scares me (spews laughter).
BallerStatus.com: Do you have proof? (laughing) Come on, stop giving me the blues.
Alfamega: It's probably my size.
BallerStatus.com: Do you think your lyrics help to bolster what you were physically blessed with?
Alfamega: Not necessarily, it's the whole package.
BallerStatus.com: In your case, do your lyrics always reflect your lifestyle or do you ever use poetic license?
Alfamega: I try to be well rounded with it. (Pauses to take a personal call)
BallerStatus.com: Seven years, four days, five hours, thirty-two minutes and sixteen long-ass seconds. How did the time you spent, confined in prison, help to shape you to be the man that you are now?
Alfamega: It showed me how to be a grown man instead of a grown male. It taught me how to be a man of my word. [It's] like whatever I'ma do, I'll do it. It taught me how to take a negative and turn it into a positive. It showed me that if you like doing something negative and you're working hard at it and being successful with it, you can do the same thing -- [being] positive and become double successful with it, and remain free.
BallerStatus.com: Why did it take that situation to show you that?
Alfamega: You got to understand the environment I came up in. I came up in the first projects in the United States; I came up in Techwood projects. I was in and out of the system since I was nine years old. So, when we were younger, when we were in and out [of the system], it was a badge. We were so ignorant and naïve to the fact that we thought it was a badge of honor to go in and out of jail. Ya feel me?
BallerStatus.com: With that being said, what can you tell me about KOTU Global?
Alfamega: KOTU is a real estate [organization] and all that. Everything is kinda shaky right now. We're holding back on messing with the real estate, you know, because the market is messed up. And then I got the Hundred Kings foundation. It's a foundation I'm setting up where we find a hundred underprivileged young youth [from] across the United States. Whatever they want to be in life, I'm putting them with a mentor that's been successful in that field to guide them.
BallerStatus.com: Is this organization already off the ground? How can interested parties gain more information about it?
Alfamega: My publicist [Kim Ellis] is doing everything with it now, putting everything together.
BallerStatus.com: While you were incarcerated, you met Mac Dre. In 2005 this Bay Area icon was murdered in a drive-by shooting in Kansas City, MO. Where were you when you learned of his untimely passing?
Alfamega: When I found out Mac Dre was dead, Mac Dre had been dead for six months. I didn't even know it. And, I was in Atlanta.
BallerStatus.com: How'd y'all meet?
Alfamega: We were in prison on the yard. He was an inmate with a number, I was an inmate.
BallerStatus.com: You didn't care about what he had accomplished outside of the bars?
Alfamega: When you're in prison, shh** ... I was in prison with John Gotti. I was in prison with Mike Gisetta and the leader of his military mob family. I was in prison with a lot of people with names. When you're in prison, it really don't matter who you were when out, you in prison now.
BallerStatus.com: Was he or was he not the first one who showed interest. He knew that you would make it to the next level?
Alfamega: Yeah, he was the first one who told me. He was the first guy that told me, "If you don't get a deal when you get out, the game is rigged." When me and Mac used to talk, it wasn't like, "Man, this is Mac Dre." It was like, that's Dre, you feel me? We laughed, joked, stood on the yard, talked sh**. All kinds of sh**, it wasn't just, "He is Mac Dre."BallerStatus.com: In 2002 you had the opportunity to sign with Beanie Sigel, what happened with that?
Alfamega: Basically, Beans had a roster. Beans is a hell of a businessman. Beans had a roster of artists, he had State Property. His statement was, "Start hanging around..." But, I had a plan, I had an agenda. I came home with a vengeance to get me a record deal. Nothing was in the plan of sitting around waiting on him. I did that in prison.
BallerStatus.com: When the opportunity came around with Universal you capitalized on that? How long were you with them? What went awry with that relationship?
Alfamega: All day, everyday. From the beginning of 2002 to the end of 2004. Differences, monetary differences.
BallerStatus.com: Did you make up any dances while you were there? Weren't you part of their Crunk Movement?
Alfamega: Do I look like a n**** that dance? (begins to laugh)
BallerStatus.com: [laughing] So, you don't dance, you don't boogie?
Alfamega: I don't do none of that. I had a song with Lil Jon called "A-Town Stomp." That wasn't really a dance; it was a thing that came about from the Westside of Atlanta. You know, you got a hit song in Atlanta when you can see someone get stomped the f*** out in the club. When you see someone get stomped out to a song, that's a f***ing hit. (laughs) So, that's how the "A-Town Stomp" thing came about. But, no dancing, I'm not a dancer, baby. You gotta go see Ray J and all them. There's nothing wrong with dancing, Ray J is my partna. Soulja Boy got you covered.
BallerStatus.com: How would you define music business success?
Alfamega: Do you want it from materialism or a way of touching someone?
BallerStatus.com: Both.
Alfamega: Both? You're well rounded with it. I feel that any artist that starts his own label, he's not a successful CEO until he puts out an artist that surpasses his success.
BallerStatus.com: You are a grown man. That answer reflects maturity. How did you meet T.I.? Was it from being on the Westside of Atlanta?
Alfamega: The Westside of Atlanta, baby. All day, everyday, 24-7, 365. [And] 366 on a leap year.
BallerStatus.com: What traits do you possess that would compel him to invest his time and resources into helping to cultivate you as an artist?
Alfamega: I am the streets. You don't get it do you? I had a name in the streets before I had a name in the industry. You know how they say, "This dude ain't did that." Well, say hello to the Boogie Man.
BallerStatus.com: Grand Hustle is the foundation of your lyrical legacy. In what ways does your creativity complement those associated with Grand Hustle?
Alfamega: Grand Hustle started out as a street label. I am the streets. I'm bringing you the pictures of Atlanta that nobody's ever brought to you. When Ludacris and Jermaine Dupi put out their "Welcome to Atlanta," like me and TIP said ... we have a song called "Westside OG," that ain't the Atlanta I know, buddy. The Atlanta y'all saw was the party side. That's what I tell everybody, "y'all saw the party side. Come on down in the hood, come on down deep in the hood." The movie "ATL" ain't really what Atlanta is. We're not doing no roller skating.
BallerStatus.com: Why did you choose "Uh Huh" as the initial single? Given your reputation I thought you'd pick more of a lyrical song?
Alfamega: Man, I'm celebrating, I made it. When I made it, the whole hood made it. One of us finally made it.
BallerStatus.com: So, you're showing it's okay to be happy?
Alfamega: You don't think it's okay to be happy? A lot of dudes want to be happy. They wish that they were free.
BallerStatus.com: While doing research I came across your song "The New South," and I love it. Will this be released as a single anytime soon?
Alfamega: Nah, that's something I threw out there. Something I threw out there to let people know what I was pissed off at the time. You know when I get pissed off, I say what's on my mind.
BallerStatus.com: It was so eloquent.
Alfamega: That turned you on, got you all hot and bothered?
BallerStatus.com: No, the nasty one that that I liked was "Get on Yo Knees." That was a nice song.
Alfamega: Oh, you like "Get On Yo Knees," why'd you like it?
BallerStatus.com: It was for a mature audience.
Alfamega: Talking about sucking it from the back and all that.
BallerStatus.com: Oooh weeee.
Alfamega: (laughing) We're supposed to be doing an interview, girl.
BallerStatus.com: I know, right? And you got me with a big dumb a** smile.
Alfamega: I had to get my number changed. I put my number on that song, you heard it. I was getting calls from strippers from everywhere. "Is this really you, when you coming to this city?" I got so many calls I had to change my number quick. I'ma put out a new one though. I think I'ma get more freakier. I seen Plies trying to steal my little shine. He stole my little thing and ran with it. I was like "Okay, that's how he play." I should'a stuck to it, I'ma get him though.
BallerStatus.com: If Grand Hustle is the kingdom and T.I. is the king, how have the tribulations that he's endured as a leader affected his reign? How has these circumstances affected you?
Alfamega: He's still on top of everybody. Check the sales this week. It went from 850,000 to 1.2, baby. He ain't fell off. He's still the leader, everybody makes mistakes. Can't nobody judge nobody until you walk in his shoes. You feel me? Let's do this right here. We had a conversation one day, do you think it's wrong if a woman f***ed over 100 men? So, I asked my man and them if they would marry a woman if she done had over a hundred men in her life that she f***ed before. People told me "No." I said, "She'd marry you and you done f***ed over a hundred women." That means you can't judge nobody, right?
BallerStatus.com: But, a lot of people haven't achieved that kind of maturity. We hold y'all on a pedestal. We are very judgmental.
Alfamega: That's why we are grown men and not grown males. Some dudes say, "You don't hit a woman." No, if you disrespect me I'ma smack your ass.
BallerStatus.com: What?
Alfamega: Sit down.
BallerStatus.com: A woman? As juicy as you are, you would hit a woman?
Alfamega: If you stay in a woman's place then I'ma treat you like a woman. If you jump up like you're a man, you're going to get dealt [with] like you're a man.
BallerStatus.com: So, if she was just fussing at you, you'd knock her in the jaw?
Alfamega: I wouldn't knock her in the jaw, I'd smack her across the head. Right across her weave, knock one of her tracks out.
BallerStatus.com: That's too expensive for all that.
Alfamega: That's too expensive, then just sit down because you can't handle me. (laughs)
