C-Murder: A Second Chance

WordofSouth.com: What’s going on with you C?

C-Murder: Chillin right now, you know I’m about to drop this DVD, drop this album, get TRU Records off the ground ya heard me, put out some of my artists’ and stuff like that. Focusing on this book and my new publishing company, so I’m just grinding right now.

WordofSouth.com: How is your case looking for you right now?

C-Murder: Well you know I can’t speak on the case, but God’s aware and everything’s going good.

WordofSouth.com: When you were released, did you have a new found motivation for business?

C-Murder: Yeah, I just wanted to come home and grind, grind, grind, and do it. I wanted to take care of the ones that took care of me when I was locked up and that’s what I’m doing. Everyone that I planned for when I touch is what I’m doing. I started it off with the “Death Around The Corner” novel and now we got TRU Publishing poppin’ off. We got the TRU Records camp and we got a lot of, work to be done. We gonna hit the road and do shows, so you will be seeing us real soon on a promo tour.

WordofSouth.com: How’s the book industry going for you?

C-Murder: I just dropped “Death Around The Corner” and that’s doing real good. I’m about 80% done with the next novel which will be coming out under TRU Publishing called “Street Glory.”

WordofSouth.com: Oh yeah? What is that going to be about?

C-Murder: Man, its crucial! I don’t want to give the plot away because somebody might get it, write it, and put it out before me, but if you read “Death Around The Corner” you will know what to expect. I’m coming real with it and there’s gonna be a real nice twist with it.

WordofSouth.com: That’s wasup!

C-Murder: Also I want to let the people know we dropping Jacki-O novel under TRU Publishing.

WordofSouth.com: Are there any similarities with music and books business wise?

C-Murder: The publishing is just like the music distributors. You go out and get a deal whether it’s a major or independent. You got to fight for your percentages just like you do with the record business. It’s generally the same game.

WordofSouth.com: How was the whole change for you?

C-Murder: It’s an easy transition; I can really do both at the same time. Whenever I go promote this new record and single and hit all the different cities and states on my promo tour, at the same time I can hit Barnes & Noble’s, Walden Books and all these different book clubs, colleges, libraries, and promote my books and have discussions with kids to let them know knowledge is power. That’s one thing I really enjoy when I hit these schools. A book is a way to get into these schools, so I can talk to these kids one on one and basically see what’s happenin’ with them and let them know my trials and tribulations and things they should expect to run into in the future. With all that maybe I can help them with some of the decisions I made and things I’ve been through.

WordofSouth.com: Did you ever see yourself being a CEO of multiple companies?

C-Murder: Once I really learned the game from being around big bro (Master P) and saw how he was doing his thing, I was really soaking up the game. I got a real hustlers mentality man, so I always knew that one day that I would be doing the same thing or something like that.

WordofSouth.com: You did the “The Truest Shit Ever Said” album while you were locked up. What was the feeling of recording your new music in the studio hands on?

C-Murder: Oh man it was crucial. Everybody was excited and tweaked out. I couldn’t wait to get nasty with putting it down and laying it down because I had a lot that I really wanted to talk about and express. I just needed some good beats and that’s when I hooked up with the homie 2Saint from Baton Rouge, that’s the Colonel of Deadly Soundz right now. He brought the new tracks and it was on and poppin’ after that. I’m coming back like that old “Life or Death” but at the same time I upgraded everything.

WordofSouth.com: As a label, what is going on with TRU Records?

C-Murder: Right now I got a distribution with Asylum Records, so we about to start putting out a lot of music. I got everybody in the lab working and handling their business. First out the gate is the Cutt Boyz, then Verse as a solo artist. That’s what’s poppin’ with the label, we just about to put out some good music.

WordofSouth.com: Wendy Day wrote an article on my site regarding artists signing to an artist ran label. When you sign talent, what do you basically tell them from the jump as far as putting music out

C-Murder: First of all for me to sign a person to TRU Records, its gonna take a lot. I can’t just go by talent. first of all they got to have raw talent where they can go in the booth and hold it down or go do an interview and hold it down. They content gotta be crucial with their music. I got to really get to know them, chill with them and know the person and the man. They got to be a good person inside and somebody that I can trust and become friends with too because we gonna be traveling and doing a lot together. I can’t just be on the road with anybody who gonna go out and do something and get the whole crew into a conflict. It just takes a lot to be bred into a TRU records member. We take this really serious.

WordofSouth.com: What are some things that you tell your artists every day?

C-Murder: I just tell them they gotta stay focused and stay out of trouble. They need to stay in the lab and keep putting out music. Once I drop it’s on and poppin’ and ain’t gonna be no slowing up, you got to be ready. They need to keep their head together, straight up.

WordofSouth.com: Tell me about the DVD that you have coming out.

C-Murder: “The Movement,” it’s crucial. Basically it’s an introduction to my new album that’s coming out. Letting everybody see just how I’m doing and basically rolling with me in the studio, see how I put an album together and get a chance to sample some of the album. I’m introducing my artists you know the TRU Records clique, Cutt Boyz (C-Murder, G-Dinero, Verse, and Max Minelli), Verse, G-Dinero, and 2Saint (producer). You just gotta chance to just hang with me and meet all my folks.

WordofSouth.com: I would have to say that you are one of few New Orleans artists to really work with Baton Rouge talent.

C-Murder: You know me man; I’ve always been a team player and always wanted to work with whoever was talented. I never had that negative aspect on other people and business partners that I dealt with. Baton Rouge is blowing up brah, I always knew. I was living out there too, so I had a chance to meet a lot of people. It was like it just had to happen, they like my second family to me out there ya dig. We gonna make history now.

WordofSouth.com: How are you promoting the DVD?

C-Murder: My new DVD, I’m on radio, I’m taking advantage of the Internet, and got BET and MTV ads poppin’ off. Anything that we can do we doing it. It’s just like we doing for the album, we taking this DVD real serious.

WordofSouth.com: Explain to me what went wrong with Capitol.

C-Murder: They had merged with Virgin and what I was trying to do was bring back the old Priority back. I basically had like 90% of the old Priority Records staff. Those people were people I really trusted and knew that they were gonna work my project just how I wanted it to work. When they merged with Virgin they had fired all those people, so I hollered at my lawyer and manager and let them know that I wasn’t feeling the situation. It was my first solo project since I was home, so I needed it to be right. We figured out some kind of way to get out of there, so we hit them up and do what we do. We couldn’t take no for an answer because this my life ya heard me?

WordofSouth.com: Soon after you joined up with Asylum. How did you join up with them so soon?

C-Murder: I’ve been in contact with a lot of distributors and you know I’ve been in the game, so I ain’t about no bull. I met with a lot of people and talked with a lot of people and I just really liked the situation at Asylum as far as the type of deal I was looking for and needed. Everything was just perfect, so I just went with it.

WordofSouth.com: When you went with Asylum, what were you looking to get out of the deal?

C-Murder: I basically wanted to be in total control of everything that I do. The percentages had to be perfect and I wanted to be capable to put out more than three or four albums a year depending on how the market feeling. I just want to control everything, simple as that.

WordofSouth.com: What can long time fans expect from his new album "Screamin 4 Vengeance"?

C-Murder: My fans gonna love this one and cherish this one here because I put my whole heart into it. They gon’ get a chance to see what’s been happening with me and what’s on my mind. They gonna get the critical crucial beats and the gangster music. They gonna get an album that’s untainted by what’s going on in the public and what’s going on in Hip-Hop with people trying to stop us from saying this and that in the content of our music. They just getting that regular raw C-Murder, but at the end of the day they gonna get a nice message, simple and that.

WordofSouth.com: What is going to be the first single?

C-Murder: The first single “One False Move” is actually getting pressed up right now, so we waiting on it to get back, so in about 2-3 weeks it should be hitting the airwaves. I can’t wait for the fans to get into it and let me know how they feeling it.

WordofSouth.com: You’ve lost friends and family and you’ve gone through your own personal issues, yet you still stick to your roots as a gangster rapper. Do you ever get people coming to you saying you should lighten up on your content?

C-Murder: Well, you know I ain’t really in contact with a lot of people, but I get word of this and word of that about the Hip-Hop industry needing to do this or say this or stop this. I ain’t feeling that, it just ain’t me ya dig. I ain’t never gon’ change and that’s just the way it is. They trying to stop us say what we say, but we making quality music. This music is entertainment and not something you should live by or die by. They got to understand we black men making an honest living. We could be out there robbin’ banks or robbin’ liquor stores or anything, but we not, we doing it the right way. They trying to punish us and blame all their problems on us, it ain’t right. This a touchy subject for me, it get me real mad, I hope they don’t put me on one them TV channels because I’m going all the way off. That’s just real man, we making music and making money, simple as that.

WordofSouth.com: While we are on the subject of blaming Hip-Hop, have you been in contact with MAC?

C-Murder: I’m glad you brought that up. Basically, I speak with MAC every other day, and I’m working on his new project too. He had a CD that we put together called “The Lost Tapes” where they can buy off my MySpace and order through PayPal. His situation, he was wrongfully convicted and given 30 years, so basically since I’ve been home that’s been my main objective to work on getting him back in court and getting his time diminished. Everyone keep him in their prayers and keep your fingers crossed.

WordofSouth.com: When is that new album looking to be released?

C-Murder: “The Lost Tapes” that’s real new and a whole lot of songs that you never heard from MAC. We decided to put that out and sell it straight out the trunk and on the internet. Sometime next year we gonna drop the new album with all new songs.

WordofSouth.com: Anything else that you want to mention?

C-Murder: I’d like for everybody to go to my homie Kwame Teague MySpace page and see the difficulties that he’s having with the system and see if you can help him out.

– INTERVIEW BY: Leon Bailey