TSS Presents Smoking Sessions with Curren$y

"Smoking Sessions With..."    By TSSCrew on October 16, 2008 at 3:01 pm

“No Smoking” signs are posted up outside of most rooms at the Marriot Marquis in Times Square. Just not the top floor, where, of course, Curren$y happens to be staying. It’s coincidental, though, so the unaware Spitta is hard at work trying to securely hotbox the room. Equipped with only packing tape and bed sheets, Curren$y and his crew—no Fly Society today, just two dudes he met at a skate demo only a week prior—are determined to keep the peace while blowing back.

And their Macgyverian efforts have paid off. Upon my arrival, no scent lingers beyond the front door—until they open up and are forced to take down the 100% cotton wall that covered the entire doorframe.

Pass the tape, please.

TSS: How did you get into rap?

Curren$y: I always used to fuck around with it, but I ain’t take it serious ‘til I got out of high school.

TSS: What made you take it serious then?

Curren$y: Just seeing a couple people who I knew like Mr. Marcelo and Soulja Slim get deals and poppin’ up on shit and I felt like I should have also.

TSS: What was your relationship with Slim like?

Curren$y: We were cool. He was in the game before me so he was just puttin’ me on to a lot of shit.

TSS: Including No Limit?

Curren$y: Yeah. It was cool. It’s just that I think [Master P] had too much going on to help me with what I was trying to do at that time. I stayed there from like ’03 to ’06.

TSS: How did you then hook up with Cash Money?

Curren$y: I was supposed to be going to LA to be doing some shit for No Limit because I had taken a break from them for a minute. When I left No Limit, maybe three or four months in between that, then I bumped into Wayne. We chopped it up, I put some music together, and I just shot out there. We did some shit, but that’s the past.

TSS: Why did you leave Young Money last December?

Curren$y: There wasn’t really any situation for me over there as far as what I was trying to do. I waited over there, wasting damn near all my time trying to do this shit how I thought it was supposed to go. I just figured this shit out. All the shit I wanna do, I know no nigga would help me do all that. Nobody’s gonna help me take over the world because they want it themselves. So I respect that shit. People got their shit goin’ on so you just gotta do this shit on your own and I just figured this shit out. If I would’ve stayed asleep for five more minutes, I would’ve got up and been fucking thirty-nine and been like, “Let’s go! I’m ready.”

I’m glad I woke up and just did shit myself. It doesn’t make sense in any situation no matter how straight it is. If you can do it yourself, just go ahead and do it yourself any damn way. You’re not gonna work at Burger King if you can go open your own shit and make Burger King money. I can make hamburgers, too, so I got my own shit.

TSS: What’s your relationship with Wayne like now?

Curren$y: I dunno—I don’t have one. (Laughs)

TSS: Is there beef?

Curren$y: Nah, I dunno. I ain’t really trippin’; I’m cool.

TSS: On a lot of records, you say, “My name is my name.” Is Marlo your favorite character from The Wire?

Curren$y: Well, I guess so, bro. I’m not gonna lie, I wasn’t even watching that show for a long time. I just started watching it closely at the end and I just remember that when he said that, that was the hardest shit I ever heard. It made so much sense what he was saying.

TSS: Did you catch up on all of the episodes?

Curren$y: I watched it all the way to the end and then I just OnDemand’ed the rest of it and watched ‘em all.

TSS: I overheard your manager saying that when he makes it, he’ll start smoking again.

Curren$y: That’s what he says, but he’ll probably flake on that.

TSS: When you make it, are you gonna stop?

Curren$y: Uhh, nope! I thought I’d take a break for a minute, knowwhatimsayin’. Just go jogging and shit and get myself together. Nah dude, I’m bullshitting. Why would I? Nah, nah. For what? (Laughs)

TSS: What are your favorite munchies?

Curren$y: Fruit Gushers. Ritz crackers and ham and cheese in the microwave is good.

TSS: Obviously, we’re talking to each other about shit like this because of your mixtapes.

Curren$y: Yeah, I’m looking through my e-mail trying to find these beats I wanted. The one I’m working on now, though, is original—some shit I’m gonna do with Freck Billionaire.

TSS: Wasn’t Wale gonna be on Fin…?

Curren$y: I don’t know if I can lock him in for something else because his schedule is crazy like mine. But we talked about it.

TSS: You said you work on the mixtapes for two days out the month and your album for the other twenty-eight days.

Curren$y: Yeah, man. Every other day I’m just working on original shit, putting it on the side for when the situation come through.

TSS: About how many tracks do you have stashed away?

Curren$y: Since December, probably around 200. What else do I have to do? That’s what I do. Like Michael Jordan just played basketball everyday.

TSS: And you’re waiting on a deal not just for you but for the entire Fly Society?

Curren$y: Right, where I could put the people who’s on my team from the city on. You hear the niggas on my shit. You hear that they deserve a name. I’m waiting on somebody who sees the same thing that I see and writes a check that convinces me that they see that.

TSS: So you’re trying to take that CEO role?

Curren$y: I don’t really like to look at it like that because we’re all on the same level as far as I’m concerned. I’m not even on my CEO shit because we all make decisions. Them niggas make decisions about what goes on with me. Sometimes, I don’t know what the fuck I’m gonna do or what I wanna do and then we all sit around and plot out a nigga’s next move. It really ain’t any CEO shit. All of us niggas rap and we’re all rockin’. I ain’t trippin’ like that because we’re all good.

TSS: What put me on to you was your verse on “Title Track” when you spit “… the first rap I wrote was five pages full of bullshit and lies/ about me killin’ niggas and flippin’ pies/ but when I got by myself, I found myself…”

Curren$y: In both those situations, I had signed to labels people had heard of so you got so many people around you that you don’t really know what’s real. So when I broke away from that, that gave me a chance to see really what’s going on. I’m not gonna lie. Both situations were straight, paperwise, but I just wasn’t getting my music out like I wanted to. When niggas see you slow up, they think you’re now in a place where you’re not gonna be able to keep moving how you’ve been moving or do shit for them that you did.

I say I found myself because I looked around and I saw exactly who was around me at bad points when I decided that I’m going to do leave. My only income is music. So once I say that I quit my job, that’s that. So these muthafuckas gotta take that into consideration and say, “I fuck with my dude regardless.” If you fuck with me regardless, then you already know that I’m damn near about to become a liability. I would’ve been fucked up but it just so happened that the whole time I’m doing my thing stacking, I just fucking knew what to do and my clothing line just happened to take off so I was good. Some niggas around me were just tryin’ to live in that light with me and when I broke away, that allowed some niggas to leave my circle. So it’s all good. It’s perfect. We just had to take a few seats out of the airplane.

TSS: Now that you’re getting your music out the way you want, one thing that really sticks out to me is your beat selection.

Curren$y: Oh yeah, man. That’s just everything I like. And that’s how I know this shit is so meant to be. I started doing what I felt like doing, not listening to shit nobody said, and walked away from the money—that shit’s cool, but whatever. I was trying to do what I wanted to do but it didn’t fit well. I didn’t know you, but I was poppin’. You didn’t care. You didn’t come to see what I’m thinking about and we like the same shit. For all these years, nobody even knew like. I’m from New Orleans but we do this kinda shit over here, too.

I’m gonna be that nigga to make it—to do that. You see me—I just don’t do any of that beef. I’m just cool, with who I fuck with, what I wear, whatever. As long as a nigga is on the same shit I’m on. I’m always on the same shit I did this morning—smoke, play games, fuck with some bitches, go somewhere and ride around old school.

TSS: You mean old school cars?

Curren$y: Hell yeah.

TSS: What’s your favorite whip?

Curren$y: I got a ‘84 Monte Carlo SS painted in Lamborghini green—Verde Ithaca. I got that paint with a suede royal blue interior. I got a ‘81 Camaro Z28. I just got that shit off eBay. I haven’t fucked with it yet. I also got a ‘64 Impala.

TSS: So you buy a lot of your whips from eBay?

Curren$y: Yeah, and they’ll be shit cruisers. But then you put some money into it and it’s a monster after that. They run like new shit and you’re never gonna run into one like it at a red light. I pull up on a nigga in a Benz and his bitch likes it. I’m just in there locin’ and I got this off eBay.

TSS: Do they even run when you buy them?

Curren$y: They run but that fucking Camaro was shit. I put paint, engine, and leather interior into it, and it’s outrunnin’ new shit like a Corvette, mashin’ them bitches. The green car runs like a fucking Lam’, for real. Choppin’ steel (makes car noises). There’s no radio in there. I just smoke and listen to the road and pray somebody pulls up beside and act stupid. I’ll blow their fucking doors open all the way to the club and buy ‘em a drink when I get in there like, “Here you go”. Just have one waiting on‘em.

TSS: You get a lot of free shit?

[Talking about his Play Cloths t-shirt]

Curren$y: Yeah. Pusha T gonna have to send me some love. I make this look damn good. They’re probably gonna be like, “Send his ass everything.” (Laughs) I just got this jacket from the DC store. I just went in there like, “It’s me! It’s Spitta, y’all!” (Laughs). They don’t trip if you really run the shit. The people who send me shit are the ones who ended up reaching out to me because they saw me wearing the shit. There really hasn’t been anybody that’s come at me with everything because everybody sleeps on me anyway. So I don’t get free shit like that. Like some of ‘em don’t even know who the fuck I am.

TSS: If you shout a brand out on record, would they then send you shit?

Curren$y: They’re liable if it’s authentic because they know when you’re fishing for sponsors. But if it’s for real, they’ll fuck with you. That’s how DC reached out to me and Supra because Terry [Kennedy] got a shoe with them.

TSS: You’re cool with Compton Ass Terry?

Curren$y: TK? Yeah! I got a company with him. That’s who I’m doing the Fly Society clothes through.

TSS: When’s that coming out?

Curren$y: We’re still trying to see what we’re going to do with it. We might do it ourselves or we might take a licensing deal. I kinda just wanna keep guerrilla in this shit—just do it ourselves, you know. We don’t want it to get Wal-Mart.

I don’t need much money. I don’t need all of that shit. That’s probably problems. As long as I got everything cool. Like I could have some kids who ain’t trippin’ and everything’s good like, “You want a dog? Ok, you can get a dog because we have a backyard that’s fine.” And my girl, “You want something? What car do you like? Alright, let’s get one of those for you.” I’m gonna get me two of something really cool and another old car and a house and I’m gonna chill out! That’s it! I’m gonna keep rapping but I’ll stop even coming out for real. I’ll go back to making mixtapes like, “Alright, I just want y’all to know I can rap.” And then when I’m 32-33, it’s not gonna happen anymore. That way, they’ll be like, “That dude did that shit, man. That dude just came in and went hard and checked out.” And I’ll live with that.

TSS: Who’s your favorite rapper right now?

Curren$y: Max B. Max B is the fucking best out there. Why hasn’t he got a million-dollar deal? Didn’t he have some big, zillion-dollar deal? What happened?

TSS: No idea. He did catch a murder rap…

Curren$y: Shit, that’s fucking crazy. That dude is the best. Y’all should do something with him.

TSS: Why do you say that?

Curren$y: Because he’s chillin’. That dude raps about whatever the fuck he’s doing. That shit is what’s up. That’s what the fuck everybody’s supposed to do. Everybody got it all fucked up—just making shit up. It’s fucked up. That nigga raps about going and getting pizza with a bitch. That’s tight. I’ll do that. That’s how I rap—just fucking whatever, man. All this fucking Batman and Robin shit, making shit up—it’s stupid. (Laughs). The shit is fucking WCW—matter of fact, ECW. You remember ECW? Fucking Sabu and them?

TSS: Yeah, yeah, yeah, lighting shit on fire and shit and barbed wire ropes.

Curren$y: That’s crazy that that wasn’t real, either. Nothing’s real. I swear that that’s what rap is. That’s why I’m gonna fix it. Dog, I know that as soon as I get on, niggas are gonna be like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s what’s up.’

Keep up with Curren$y by checking him out @ www.myspace.com/flyspitta.

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