TSS Presents Smoking Sessions With Lloyd Banks & Tony Yayo

"Smoking Sessions With..."    By TC on May 22, 2008 at 5:29 pm

It’s too easy to dismiss G-Unit as a crew of underlings riding off the lead rapper’s success. Actually, that would be totally inaccurate. When you consider everything the group has achieved as a collective and as individuals, basically any notions of indolence (read: hate) would ultimately prove fraudulent all together. As a sub-label (Aftermath) of a sub-label (Shady), Young Buck, Tony Yayo, Lloyd Banks, and of course 50 Cent have done better than most rapper’s who are the head of their squads.

But just like in every dynasty, the good times are highlighted (if not more) with the bad — most notably the recent defection of Young Buck from the immediate G-Unit group. While 50 Cent was unavailable due to the filming of the Irwin Winkler’s Streets Of Blood (next time 50!), TSS Crew’s TC managed to catch up with Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo as they prepped to release the second G-Unit album T.O.S. (Terminate On Sight). Never known to bite their tongue, the well informed duo express their excitement for the new album, the Young Buck situation, some interesting traveling stories and unfortunately for him, Fat Joe. It’s the Unit! You already know…

TSS: What’s good ya’ll?

Tony Yayo: What’s up thoughhhhh!!!

Lloyd Banks: TC! Smoking Section! You got the right idea. I’m thinking bout blunts and stuff, I’m buggin’ out over here.

TSS: (Laughs) What they got 50 doing today?

Lloyd Banks: Oh he shooting a movie with Sharon Stone and some other muthafuckas I don’t know…

TSS: Oh yeah, the Val Kilmer joint.

Lloyd Banks: See you know better than me and shit.

TSS: (Laughs) But yeah, you been kinda lowkey this past year Banks, what’s been up?

Lloyd Banks: I’ve been chillin’ man. It was like I was off the radar cuz I was. I was touring a lot like to Russia and Korea, and all over Europe. I wasn’t really touring over the United States, I was overseas. But last year was a real hard year for me. My father passed a few weeks after my album was released and in the mix with that, my mother was back and forth in the hospital because she had heart conditions. And it seemed like everything was going real fucked up. As well as all that going on, there was a lot of B.S. and politics and shit going on in the industry. It’s like people were agreeing to disagree and forming alliances. Like I haven’t seen so many coupe records since “Self Destruction” nah’ mean? It’s like you either get in when you fit in or you get blackballed. But I’ve never been the type to compromise who I am as an artist or a person to the way things are falling in for everybody else. But now situations are a little better, I’m in a better state right now and I’m able to get in the studio and actually lock in to produce the material that I had prior to this.

TSS: So you’re saying when you did Rotten Apple, you weren’t as focused?

Lloyd Banks: Nah, it was everything that happened afterwards that had me fucked up to the point where I just really couldn’t deal with industry at that time. I ain’t even really know how to answer a stupid question at that time.

TSS & Tony Yayo: (Laughs)

Lloyd Banks: Yeah I’m saying, I would’ve probably got a lawsuit if they would have asked the wrong question while I’m dealing with my Pops passing and my Moms having heart attacks one after another. And at the same time, I felt it just wasn’t the year for the “Bad Guy.” Everybody was politically correct and they weren’t playing your record. So I was just on some “fuck em” type shit; not even thinking bout the Hip-Hop side. But like I said, my head is clearer and hopefully we can reign again with the T.O.S. album.

TSS: So do ya’ll think you have to have off years for people to get excited about your product or G-Unit in general?

Tony Yayo: Not to me. I look at it like this: Banks just dropped his album and was overseas getting those euros. Buck was dropping his album in the South and Fif was shooting movies. And I just got off probation, state parole and was worried about beating my case, going back to court and working on my album. So when we all got back together, it was time to do the sequel for Beg For Mercy. It’s time to Terminate On Sight.

Like Banks said, when you don’t see us in magazines or doing interviews, we still working. We just came back from Australia and Africa on a 14 day tour. We was in Sydney, Gold Coast, Johannesburg, Cape Town, having the time of our lives out there. There’s a lot of money overseas. Most artists don’t go to the markets because a lot of people don’t know them or they don’t think there’s money, or they just be slippin’, straight up.

Lloyd Banks: Yeah, it’s a beautiful thing to get to go to these places. And you know, the people got complaints, they want to see other artists too, but you have to understand what it cost to pay the average rapper is what it cost to fly out there one way.

Tony Yayo: He’s right, because you can hook up with a promoter and he can say he got “X” amount of dollars for you but if you have to pay for your own flight, you coming back with only like $5,000 in your hand!

TSS: Yeah, the trip’s mishaps have been well documented just as well. I heard ya’ll got the chain back…

Tony Yayo: I mean it’s the Unit baby. We jump in crowds anywhere. A lot of people scared to go to these 3rd World countries but that’s how the Unit do.

Lloyd Banks: Yeah we did shows in Kosovo where they been at war for like the past 30 years…

Tony Yayo: But Africa was kinda cool though. Fif met up with one of the biggest guys out there and he owns a platinum mine. I don’t know how I forgot his name but you can check it out on ThisIs50.com.

TSS: Will do. But what’s up Terminate On Site though? It went from Shoot To Kill to Locked & Loaded…what’s up with all the name changes?

Lloyd Banks: Well the name changes happened because fortunately for us, we sell records all over the place. So when you got names like Shoot To Kill and stuff, it won’t be as friendly in record stores. So T.O.S. is just abbreviated for Terminate On Sight because it’s deemed more acceptable.

TSS: But it didn’t change the content of the music right?

Lloyd Banks: Oh no, no way, no how.

Tony Yayo: No! No! It’s definitely aggressive man. R.I.P. to Sean Bell, we did a tribute to him. When police got the “not guilty” verdict, that was messed up. Police can discharge 50 shots on you and nothing get done about it. And that’s where I’m from — South Jamaica. That could’ve been me, my brother, Banks, Banks’ brother, anybody! So we got a tribute to him on there “Straight Outta Southside.” Then we got “No Days Off” on there, aggressive music, a record Banks brought to the table, CRAZZZY!!! Some good stuff on there.

TSS: I heard Polow Da Don and Swizz did beats too…

Tony Yayo: Yeah, Polow, Swizz, Eminem…we got a lot of those star-studded producers on there. But I call the new guys star-studded too. Just cuz they straight outta the basement doesn’t mean they not stars too. Shout to Stereo, he produced “I Like The Way She Do It.” Shout out to dudes like Apex who did “I Get Money.” People don’t bother with them and we turn them into stars. We got Dangerous LLC on there too.

TSS: And ya’ll been killing the mixtape game, is any of the songs gonna be on the album?

Tony Yayo: Um…”Rider Pt. 2″ of course. “I Like The Way She Do It” and we got the new joints. Banks can tell you about it, cuz we got fire, I’m excited!

Lloyd Banks: Well when you ask is any of the songs gonna be on the album, it’s like some of those records are records that are prepared for mixtapes. You go in there [in the studio] make the record and decide which ones are your favorites and they end up making the album — but at the same time, Fif throw out shit that I be like “Yo, why did you put that out there?” Because “The Mechanic” to me is a surefire classic album cut…

TSS: I can’t stop listening to “Like A Dog.” That’s the one right there.

Lloyd Banks: See what I’m saying…and I don’t even know who did the beat.

TSS: Hmmm…me either.

Lloyd Banks: (Laughs) You see, but you can’t really put the ratings on your music. You gotta let the people decide. You don’t know which record is gonna be the hit. We definitely in the mixtape zone though. I remember coming out and getting Mixtape Artist Of The Year and all that when it really didn’t seem like it had an impact…

Tony Yayo: R.I.P. to Justo!!!

Lloyd Banks: R.I.P. to Justo, but when you think about it, think about how many artists got a record deal from the mixtape market and then think about how many actually released an album.

TSS: Not too many…

Tony Yayo: I can name a lot that didn’t drop an album!

Lloyd Banks: Exactly. So it’s a big void that we had to fill because at one point it was over saturated with EVERYBODY, even producers had mixtapes!

TSS: So July 1st for Terminate On Sight? You know that’s the tentative date for Nas’ Nigger or whatever it’s gonna be called. Is there gonna be another competition?

Tony Yayo: I don’t know man, Nas is one man. It’s kinda different for him to being going up against a group album.

Lloyd Banks: Yeah, it’s definitely not the same.

TSS: Is it true you got a double album dropping Banks?

Lloyd Banks: It’s too early to say that but I do have actually have hundreds of records. Even through all the drama with my Pops passing and all that, I stayed in the studio. It’s something that I always did. My studio sessions consist of just me and the engineer. It’s not me, a buncha niggas, five bitches, it ain’t that type of environment for me. But once those records end up coming out, I’m starting my new mixtape series 5 & Better continuing on with the Money In The Bank classics.

Tony Yayo: What about you Yayo? I’m 50’s Tax Write-Off…?

Lloyd Banks: Like Banks said, I don’t have a hundred, but I got like sixty in the vault. I’m working on that but songs that I would have put on my album, you’re gonna hear on T.O.S. Me and Banks’ got a chance to A&R the album so we got that shit covered.

TSS: So, I see Buck is still on that album too. We all know the backstory but do you guys think by having him on the records, contradicts the quality?

Tony Yayo: I wouldn’t say all that because he’s still part of the family on G-Unit as a label. But I think he’s making a mistake saying he doesn’t wanna be in the best group in the world anymore, he thinks he can do it by himself. We’ll see how that goes but we’re not just gonna rip him off the album. We’ll let him get some money, still let him eat. That’s how I look at it…

TSS: What about you Banks? Ya’ll came up together on the debut solo runs, does that hurt you that he’s out all of a sudden like that?

Lloyd Banks: I mean it ain’t nothing that nobody planned for. Even with Game, nobody expected what went down with him to happen. At that time, if there was negative feelings, they would have been addressed at that time. You know nothing stays the same forever and unfortunately, Buck’s situation didn’t turn into a good one. I guess he feel like he just wants to focus on his solo career. At the end of the day, there’s still a lot of talent over here and the album is fuckin’ bananas. And like Yayo said, he’s on the album like 3-4 times and that’s as much as you can do, but it’s just hard to drive a car with three wheels…

Tony Yayo: He right. And I just feel like Buck is making a lot of mistakes and hopefully he won’t regret it, but in my eyes he will.

Lloyd Banks: Yeah, nobody looked forward to that and I don’t want the people to get it twisted like that. That’s just shit that came out in a matter of weeks. We did the XXL and then the time between then and now, more shit comes out and there’s only so much shit you can take for someone who’s lending a hand, extending a hand and feeling like it’s not being appreciated. So there’s nothing I can do about it.

TSS: And Yayo, you’ve been pretty vocal about how everybody is getting money so there’s really nothing to complain about!

Tony Yayo: Yeah! Because Buck is making it seem like his life didn’t get better fuckin’ with the Unit! My kids go to like the 69th best school in the country! I drive Bentleys around. Banks got Lambos. Buck got Bentleys and stuff like that. We all got nice cribs and all this is through G-Unit. And I just took it as a smack in the face that he would do records with Game or Fat Joe because I remember he was on the bus with UTP and no one was thinking about him. Until I got incarcerated and Banks and 50 decided to snatch him up and make him hot. So I don’t get it…

Lloyd Banks: My first three tours were Anger Management, Get Rich Or Die Tryin’, and Roc The Mic. These were all tours that I was on before I even had a record out, which I was able to accumulate millions just touring and running around with 50—and Buck was there! So it’s kinda puzzling to me also…

TSS: Definitely.

Tony Yayo: And yeah, he’s running around talking about royalties and financial problems but he got a spending problem! You’re spending more money than the CEO and you don’t even have that kind of money, know what I’m saying?

TSS: Man…

Tony Yayo: And first of all, you shouldn’t be worried about who got this bread and who made what. Banks just bought a Lamborghini. Am I mad? I got a Bentley in my yard. I just gotta throw a baby seat in the back so I can’t get the Lambo right now. I’m on the four-door Porsche next summer! I just do me, understand what I’m saying? I ain’t worried about no other nigga! To me it’s a sign of weakness when you let the media get inside of your head. Because the media don’t got no love for you. This the most media Buck ever got in his LIFE!!! If I went against 50 or Banks right now, every MEDIA DOT COM would be calling my horn more than anytime in my life! Am I wrong or am I right?

TSS: Ain’t wrong…

Lloyd Banks: Not because they know you ain’t gonna win, because you going against 50.

TSS: It’s a story!

Tony Yayo: Exactly! And you think Buck and Game is not aware of that?

Lloyd Banks: Fuck that. Don’t root for me because you hate another nigga, root for me because you got love for me.

Tony Yayo: Know what I’m saying? This is the most media attention Buck ever got in his life. Every interview we do they ask what’s up with Buck. You know why? Because he ain’t in the group anymore! Otherwise they wouldn’t be asking no questions about him. It’s like a double edge sword: “Oh, I’ma go against 50 and get all these stupid media people calling me all day!!!” I don’t give a fuck about the media, I don’t give a fuck about the industry! I’m here to be me! I’m not about to lose my hair over this shit. I remember being in the Southside of Jamaica, Queens! Me, Banks, and 50 so nothing can affect us at this point…unless we lose another one. I can understand that. R.I.P. to Banks’ Pops…

But this is the most media I ever heard Buck get! Just like when Game’s punk ass back when…man we don’t even talk about him no more because we’ll do a XXL cover and look who’s on the next one:

TSS: Game!

Tony Yayo: Yep, them muthafuckas know what they doing. Buck know what he doing. Why couldn’t they throw Snoop Dogg on there next? Cuz that sells more records. Buck trying to make the media seem like we bad guys when we collectively made over 5 million dollars. So when we come off tour and you made $100,000 in after-parties alone and it’s gone by the time we come back, that’s on you nigga!

TSS: So you think the whole Jimmy Henchman situation got blown out of proportion because 50 Cent brings more attention in headlines?

Lloyd Banks: Fuck Jimmy Henchman!

Tony Yayo: Yo, Let me tell you something TC…FUCK Jimmy Henchman. Jimmy Henchman is a washed up O.G. This game is full of clowns man. Ain’t this supposed to be the same nigga that set up Pac? And he’s Game’s manager??? How the fuck is Game square with the Westside? Fuckin’ wit’ a nigga that had something to do with the Pac thing. Fuck Jimmy Henchman! Fuck his son! Fuck Game, all them niggas. Let me chill because they got a lawsuit against me, but them niggas is irrevalant to me. Fuck Game! This the same nigga that got 45 spins with a Keyshia Cole record. He ain’t doing nothing right now! Definitely not doing better than “Whooa whooa whooa whooaaa” [breaks off into "Rider Pt. 2"] T.O.S. baby, they gonna see!

TSS: Well, and since ya’ll brought him up, does it feel like rapping about Fat Joe is like beating a dead horse? I mean obviously ya’ll got the popular vote…

Tony Yayo: Oh Fat Joe’s irrelevant. He was on Soundscan for like 3 days. Our mixtapes sold more than his album. I mean you couldn’t give his shit away.

TSS: I’m sayin’ though. I mean it’s like you already won…

Lloyd Banks: He don’t feel like that, so you just keep stomping him til’ he can’t talk no more.

Tony Yayo: He the one who went on BET and said “I don’t see G-Unit no where.” Let me explain something to you: If I’m getting $8,000 or $10,000 or whatever to go to the club, why am I gonna go to the club for free? That’s my job to go to the club.

Lloyd Banks: He just happy to be still around. He just happy for a nigga to know who he is. Come out smiling and just wanting to party with all the new artists that come out with their albums. He just happy he can be next to J. Holiday and niggas like that…

TSS: …(Laughs)

Lloyd Banks: Let’s keep it real! Like I remember seeing him when I was 11 years old, listening to “God Bless The Dead;” 2Pac. I’m 26 now, you do the math. It’s time for you to sit the fuck down. Let the young niggas who’s hungry and talented in the Bronx come up and get their shot. Sit ya ass down! Straight up. You know how that shit go. All that “veteran” shit is overrated. It don’t matter how many albums you put out nigga. He can put out 8 albums collectively and I still sold more than that nigga.

TSS: …Man…

Lloyd Banks: NOBODY CARES!!! Fat Joe can make his own gyro in the supermarket and cause noooo ruckus!!! They be like “Go head Joe, eat your sandwich.” I get followed in supermarkets…

But it really doesn’t matter. I just hope when it swing back to the East Coast markets and shit, be on your 2’s and stop complaining about everything else that’s going on and bring back your feel. Make your core remember why they loved you. Because I’m not making no pop records or no shit like that.

Tony Yayo: It’s a recession!!! Yo let me tell you, milk and gas is $5 man. It’s a recession right now. Murder’s up. Crime’s up. People wanna hear that aggression. They wanna hear about the struggle. They wanna hear about what’s going on in the streets. Don’t think that we don’t have issues. Banks’ Pops passed. His Moms had a heart attack…my Mom’s crib got shot up!!! You forgot about that?

TSS: Oh yeah…

Tony Yayo: Yeah! So, we got issues just like the next man. We got homies that’s cool, not cool, dudes is coming back not bailing people out, funerals, dudes is washed up for real.

Lloyd Banks: I got friends and shit that’s doing 25-45 years and they been out the loop so long, their kids got kids and they washed up garbagemen. We in the street man. There’s people 25 and under still going through shit.

TSS: But with a recession, that’s less albums being sold. Rotten Apple was pretty solid. Especially “Help” — perfect single. That didn’t sell like it should have.

Lloyd Banks: Yeah that chorus was right. But if you look back at that period, no one sold records but T.I. damn near. It was a hard time. We just gotta find new ways to judge the success of an artist. You gotta judge them on how many places they been, how many performances they done, they’re overall influence on a neighborhood, how people feel about them in the street. You can’t just look at record sales because niggas ain’t buying them no more.

TSS: Exactly. So how is the industry gonna change that?

Lloyd Banks: Well we gotta find new ways to sell it. And I hope I find out first because I’m not gonna tell nobody!

Tony Yayo: Yeah, but I feel one way is places like ThisIs50.com, where people get to see videos that you can’t see on T.V. Because like 60% of people are online opposed to watching T.V. So when you miss 106 & Park or MTV, you can go right online to ThisIs50.com and you can see videos like “Ryder Pt. 2″ or “I Like The Way She Do It” and if you look, those videos will have over 3,000 hits in over a matter of hours. Even with Elephant In The Sand or Return Of The Bodysnatchers, they had over a million downloads in a couple of days.

Lloyd Banks: We’re living in desperate times in Hip-Hop man. There’s a select few artists who won’t compromise their selves but everybody else are living in desperate times where you selling your fuckin’ soul on ice just to sell a record, and I’m not wit’ that. There’s no more rules and standards in Hip-Hop right now and that’s a problem. There used to be a time when if you did certain things and it affected your character and who you were as an artist, that would determine how long you stuck around!

Tony Yayo: And everything is totally different now. The artists get the ringtone deals or the 360° deals where big labels will sign them if they give up some of their publishing or some of everything. Me and Banks, as well as Buck, we never had those kind of deals. We had the ones where we would get our advance, and we good! Nobody had to give any publishing, no show money — definitely not the show money. That’s crazy. And don’t get it confused. You’ll see a lot artists saying “I sold “X” amount of ringtones” but the label gets more money from that than anybody because they own the record. So I think the game changed in numerous ways.

TSS: You looking to expand outside the game Yayo?

Tony Yayo: Yeah, I’m taking acting classes right now. I had a movie thrown at me and I’d love to do it but I don’t know how it’s going to conflict with me schedule. They wanted me to play KRS-One and was going to throw makeup on me.

TSS: Interesting…

Tony Yayo: Yeah, we’ll see about that. And Banks is doing his thing with the Adult Film Industry and trying to get involved in that because it’s a billion dollar business. Banks’ movie Groupie Love successfully sold over a million copies so I’m just watching how to do it and be all across the board. It’s not just rap. Like 50 with Reebok® and Vitamin Waterâ„¢, he cashed out into other deals.

TSS: You feel like you don’t get the props you deserve?

Tony Yayo: I feel like a lot of people were complimenting me on my flow like “Oh Yayo, you got better, you on the come up!” So I take it as a compliment, but at the same time, I take it as they’re dissing me. Because I don’t think they remember the first mixtapes we put out and the Funkmaster Flex freestyles…

TSS: Well I think the whole Benzino situation kind of targeted you as the weak link or whatever…

Tony Yayo: Oh yeah Benzino, I ran up on him in Miami. He gonna say whatever he wanna say in his lil’ magazine because I’m the real deal and he was scared to death. He lucky he stilll got his watch. I could’ve kept it if I wanted to. But yeah people try to “blackball” Yayo or say bad stuff about me, but I don’t let it bother me. You’ll see on the T.O.S. album that I’ve been hot, I’ve been fire. Banks been thinkin’ I’m better.

TSS: Banks you said you’re not biting your tongue this time around. Who’s on your radar?

Lloyd Banks: To be honest with you, the people I have issues with aren’t on the radar. They’re really not doing too good for themselves right now. On T.O.S. there’s a lot of issues addressed. Anybody who said something about me in 2006 and 2007 will be addressed through my mixtape series and through the album. They know who they are, I don’t even want them to get ready.

TSS: That’s what it takes to get Lloyd Banks amped huh?

Lloyd Banks: Oh you know, it’s on!

Tony Yayo: I got EVERYBODY on my radar. Terminate on sight!!!

July 1st, Terminate On Sight hits the streets. Prepare to duck.

Posted in "Smoking Sessions With...", ARTIST INTERVIEWS, GENERAL — Tags: 50 Cent, G-Unit, Lloyd Banks, Smoking Sessions, Tony Yayo