ANOTHER TRIPLE 6 MAFIA INTERVIEW!!!

[Justin]

Concrete: How has Choices II been doing since the release?

DJ Paul: It debuted at number ten on the R&B billboard and number three on the hip- hop charts. It did 55,000 the first week with no promotion and without a video. The commercial even came out afterwards. The video is supposed to start rolling next week. We’re going to host Rap City at the end of this month and it should air shortly after that. Other than that, we’re just trying to keep it rolling.

Concrete: Did you already shoot the video?

DJ Paul: Yeah. We had been shot the video but the label hadn’t got behind it yet. It’s supposed to start coming on next week. It debut last week on 106 and Park as the new joint of the day and they’re about to start playing it regularly.

Concrete: What song is the video for?

DJ Paul: Who I Is, featuring Three-6-Mafia and Trillville.

Concrete: What inspired you to do the second Choices movie. Was the sequel part of the plan when you created the first movie?

DJ Paul: On the first one we weren’t even planning to do a real movie. We were just going to put together a little 20 to 30 minute film. Something for us to sit back and get high off of and trip. You know what I’m sayin.’ We love movies and we collect DVDs like a motherfucker, So we just wanted to sit back and have something to look at. We had made something short. We filmed about two days and I told the guy to give me a copy of the tape so we could look at it. We started looking at the little small parts and we weren't even finished with it yet. Everybody was like, “man, that shit looks hard.” Everybody thought it looked good and wanted a copy of it, so we were like, shit we can make some money off of this. So we went in and wrote an additional 30 minutes to it or whatever and turned it into a full length DVD. I didn’t even know how long a film had to be, to be considered a full length movie. I called the label and they said it needed to be such and such minutes long. So we said ok, we’re going to write just that much and finish this joint up. We finished it up and brought it out, and when it did good we were surprised. We were nervous that it wouldn’t do good because it didn’t have a whole lot of killing in it. I was like, it ain’t really just Rambo so niggas probably think it’s soft. But niggas felt it because it was like reality. That’s how reality is. It ain’t no Rambos in real life or no Terminators and shit. It was just how it really goes down in the streets and that’s how we wrote it. Everybody loved it and people wanted a part two. So I figured, shit, if a motherfucker wants to buy part two, let’s give them part two. Now everybody is saying that they liked part two better. I was nervous about part two. I didn’t think they were going to like it because we were missing a lot of key elements, like Big Pat (Gangsta Pat). Niggas said they love it though.

So now we just finished another movie called the cleanup men. It’s our first comedy. It’s got Shawty “What My Name Is” from ATL and we’ve got Roland Powell aka Lil Duval from Coming To The Stage on BET. We’ve also got Miguel Nunez that played Juanaman in Harlem Nights and Michael Collier, who was in one of the House Party movies. We filmed that in February and we are editing it up right now. We just finished writing another movie called Streets Of Memphis and we are about to start writing on Choices III: The Return Of Big Pat. That’s about it. I love the movie thing.

 

[Justin]

Concrete: It sounds like you guys are becoming some serious film makers.

DJ Paul: Yeah. We co-produce, executive produce, we write and even help out on the directing because we love that.

Concrete: How did you go about getting some of the actors for the sequel?

DJ Paul: The first one didn’t have any actors in it. When you get out to Hollywood you will run into those people everyday. (phone rings and Paul has a short conversation) I’ll be back. I have to go sign these checks.
(DJ Paul leave and Juicy J enters)

Concrete: What particular roles did you and Paul play in the making of Choices II?

Juicy J: We collaborated on everything together, on producing as well as directing.

Concrete: Was all of Choices II filmed here in Memphis?

Juicy J: No. We did half of it here and the rest in Los Angeles.

Concrete: We were asking Paul before he left how you got some of the actors for the sequel. Can you tell us a little more about that?

Juicy J: Paul ran into Zeus at the airport and the producer got the rest of them. I guess that he had the connections to get to the talent agencies and all of that. That’s how it usually works. The producer gets the talent an make all of the phone calls and all of that. Then if we run into somebody at a bar or something like that then we can talk to them and hook them up with our producer and get them in the movie.

Concrete: You all really went out and found some paid talent for this film. What was the difference in the budget between the first movie and Choices II?

Juicy J: The actors weren’t really the pricey part. It’s just the locations. You use more film when you do more locations. We did more outdoor shots. That was really where the bulk of the money come in.

 

[Justin]

Concrete: How long was the process of filming this one from the beginning to the end?

Juicy J: (speaking to DJ Paul) How long were we out there? Like a month and a half or something like that.

DJ Paul: It was exactly a month.

Concrete: All of the footage?

Juicy J: As soon as we left from there and came back to Memphis, the director came right back down here and we started taping some stuff down here.

Concrete: We got a little information from Paul about the next movie. Can you tell us a little more about the plot of the story and the features without giving away too much.

DJ Paul: I told ya’ll the features. Miguel Nunez, Shawty “What My Name Is,” Lil’ Duval (Roland Powell), and Michael Collier. we’ve also got special guest appearances by the Yin Yang Twins and Grandaddy Souf. That’s about it. It’s pretty much about two guys that work at the cleaners. They end up picking up the wrong package while going to make a pickup. They get the wrong package from some heavy guys and they get their selves into a bunch of shit and they have to clean it up.

Concrete: What’s up with the next HCP project?

Juicy J: We’re probably have one at the end of the year or early next year because Project Pat is about to get out and we want to have something out on him by December. Lil Wyte also has a new album coming out.

Concrete: When exactly does Pat get out?

Juicy J: In July. He told me that he has five to six albums already written. We’ll have the beats laid for him and we’ll just let him come in the studio and lay them down.

Concrete: You guys will roll right into the production on his album. When will you start making the movie featuring Gangsta Pat (Choices III)?

Juicy J: Since he is still going to be on his little halfway house situation where he’ll have to go back and forth, we might have to wait until he gets out of that. I wish we could knock it out this year, but it would be hell, man. It’s almost really impossible.

Concrete: You said that he has been focusing on writing a lot. He looked like such a natural actor in the first movie. Has he had any opportunities to work on his craft of acting?

Juicy J: No. He really just did it. He just liked to act, so he did. If you are interested enough in something, you’ll learn.

Concrete: When you created the soundtrack to Choices II, did you plan some of the audio tracks around themes from different scenes in the movie?

 

[Justin]

Juicy J: Naw, we just rolled with it. We just made some some songs and called it a soundtrack. We knew what the movie was going to be about, so we tried to kind of made something that was going to go with the movie somewhat.

Concrete: Did you have the script written for the movie before you went in to record?

Juicy J: Yeah, we had the script and some songs for the soundtrack before we even started filming the movie.

Concrete: What are some of the technical things that you have learned since the first movie?

Juicy J: That was really the job of the director to do the lighting and all of that stuff. We know a lot about shooting movies now. From being out there, we know what cost what. At first people were trying to charge us this much for this and this much for that. Once you get out there (Hollywood) and get mixed in with the crowd, you realize that it’s not as much as you think. We learned a lot about that and we learned to be on time. On the first Choices, we got there late and drunk. You know what I’m sayin.’ We were playing around and bullshittin.’ Then when the movie did good, we were like “oh shit.” If we put our minds to it, get there sober and learn our scripts, there’s no telling what we could do.

Concrete: What individual project do you have in the works?

Juicy J: right now we’re just working on the next Three-6-Mafia album. Frayser boy is about to drop in June and Gangsta Pat is about to get out. I talked to him yesterday about the album. We want to have that out by December and Lil Wyte by September.

Concrete: What phase are you at with the Three-6-Mafia album?

Juicy J: we have the album finished. We’ve been listening to it and trying to make some changes. We’re trying to make it better than what we’ve already got. We always do the album, then we’ll listen to it and make comments on whether we need to make changes to a verse or a hook.

DJ Paul: We’ve got our first single featuring Three-6-Mafia, Eightball & MJG, and Young Buck. For the first time we’ve got all Tennessee.

Concrete: How did you go about getting everybody down on that track?

Juicy J: You Know we do work with Buck. We did two tracks on his album.

DJ Paul: We were actual down there (Nashville) for Buck’s birthday party. I was bringing him some tracks because we are going to do some production on his new album and he was wanting to do something on our album. We told him that we had a single and that we were going to try and put him and Eightball together so it would be all Tennessee on one track.

Juicy J: Eightball was at this restaurant with the mayor and they called me on the phone. I was like, “yo what’s up?” They said jokingly, “J we’re sitting here with Eightball, we hang out with rappers too. I’m putting him on the phone to let him holla at you.” He put Eightball on the phone and we exchanged numbers. We were just talking like we ain't never done anything together, so it’s time we did something. Everybody thinks we’ve got beef, but we ain’t got beef. It’s all love. I came together. We got in the studio and knocked it out. We went to Nashville and Buck laid his verse first. Then we came back here the next day and did Eightball & MJG’s verse.

Concrete: What’s the name of that track?

Juicy J: Stay Fly

Concrete: Is that going to be the first single?

Juicy J: Yeah, that’s the one.
DJ Paul: Yeah, we’ll let ya’ll hear it before you get up out of here.

Juicy J: Yeah, that motherfucker is hard.

DJ Paul: As soon as we get the clearances straight, in about another week we’re going to be sending it out.

Concrete: Is there are any plans to bring another female into the group?

Juicy and Paul: No.

DJ Paul: La Chat wasn’t really in the group. She was part of the crew. Gangsta Boo was the only girl that was ever in the group.

Concrete: It seemed like she took the place of Gangsta Boo after she left the group.

DJ Paul: Yeah, she took her place on al of the female features. La Chat was down a long time ago too. She was actually around on the first album.

Concrete: What other artists do you have in development?

DJ Paul: We’ve got some people signed. We’ve got one called Boogieman who has been with us a long time but we’re just about to make him an album. he’s one of our homeboys from back in the day. We also have an artist name Chrome. He was in a group, and we just signed him as a solo artist.

 

[Justin]

Concrete: When can people expect to see albums for them?

DJ Paul. You’ll start to see features of them on Frayser Boys album in June. Albums will be later on this year on Chrome and early next year on Boogieman if not by the en of the year on him too.

Concrete: I;m sure you’ve told the story a thousand times before, but ow did you two first link up back in the day?

DJ Paul: Well, he was hitchhiking (laughs)... I was doing my thing trying to make the mix tapes and little CDs and he was doing his thing on the other side of town and we kind off met through a guy, at the time, who was a friend of ours. Juicy came to my house and we started working together in the studio. It was a little small joint that we had and it just grew from there. He brought his people, which is Project Pat and his artists, and I brought my artists,like Crunchy Blac and Lord Infamous who’s my brother. We put it together and we just started making mix tapes. But our mix tapes weren’t like mix tapes today. Our mix tapes were our own songs.

Crunchy Blac: It’s probably like a better version of a mix tape.

DJ Paul: Not like niggas do it these days.

Concrete: What would you say has kept you tight throughout the years?

Crunchy Blac: As long as we let them be the bosses and we do what we’re here to do everything works out. If you’re an artist you follow the boss because that’s the one that got you there to where you are at. That’s why we are still here. I just think that you’ve got to be real if you want to know how we stayed together, because I follow them. I don’t have no attitude with them and they don’t have an attitude with me. Half of these rappers have got attitudes and didn’t know how to say anything about it.

DJ Paul: An a lot of them just wanted to do their own thing anyway.

Juicy J: They thought they could blow up.

DJ Paul: Yeah,they thought they could do it.

Crunchy Blac: It looks so easy when they do it. You’ll be around these two guy and it looks so easy you’ll think that you can do it.

DJ Paul: Yeah, but it ain’t easy, man

Frayser Boy: when you jump in that water it’s over for you.

Crunchy Blac: and you better not jump in the water if you see a sign that says “shark.”

Everybody: (laughs)

DJ Paul: It looks so easy. Everybody thinks that they can just go out and get a contract with Select-O-Hits and bring out an album and that shit doesn't necessarily work. To go from selling 3,000 copies to 300,000 copies (takes a lot of shit ).

Juicy J: It take a lot of money and time and effort. it takes patience and promotion.

DJ Paul: And some good beats don’t hurt.

Concrete: We know that Three-6-Mafia was launched with he help of Select-O-Hits, as well as Lil’ Wyte and Frayser Boy. With your relationship with Select-O-Hit being what it is, do you use that as a platform to gauge the marketability of new artists before you shop them to the majors?

Juicy J: Yeah. That will develop you. if you can sell 100,000 with Select-O-Hits, there’s no telling what you can do.

Concrete: How did you first initiate the relationship that you have with Select-O-Hits?

DJ Paul: We met with Johnny, the owner. He first heard about how we were doing consignments with a little store called Pop Tunes and we were selling thousands a lot. Like thousands of little underground mix tapes. The guy over there called him up and said, “hey, we’ve got some guys over here selling a shit load of CDs. You ought to talk to them.” One day Johnny Philips called me and we hooked up then.

Concrete: What year was that.

Juicy J: It was 1994 and it went down.

Concrete: What was the first album of yours that they picked up?

Juicy J: Mystic Styles

Concrete: Do you have any last words for our readers.

DJ Paul: Yeah, go get those albums. Go get Choices II. Go get Phinally Phamous by Lil Wyte. Pick up Frayser Boy, Gone Off That Bay. Go everything with Hypnotize Minds on it.

 

[loced out killa]

damn all this news on them looks like there gettin on the grind

 

[Darkshowdown]

That was a tight Interview. Where they trying to disrespect On Gangsta Pat(Deadly Verses) or was that a typo?

 

[Justin]

^^THEY MENT PROJECT PAT..

 

[Rob S4]

How come they didnt mention Koop?