TSS Presents Fifteen Minutes With Gorilla Zoe

"Fifteen Minutes With..."    By TC on May 8, 2009 at 1:56 pm

With the constant attention last year’s XXL freshman class continues to get, much abandonment has befell on the original 10 that were knighted as the wave of the future. While most have relinquished their buzz, Atlanta rhyme animal Gorilla Zoe continues to King Kong the game with his unique brand of Hip-Hop. Still rattling cages from his latest album Don’t Feed The Animals, Zoe breaks down his grind which includes a movie by the same name as his album, his humanitarian work and why you can never write him off as a gimmick.

As Zoe speaks with the Crew’s TC, read to find out why the animal is still hungry.

TSS: So you made a noticeable 180° with the new album [Don't Feed The Animals] from “Hood Nigga” and some of your other material. What inspired the turnaround?

Gorilla Zoe: Well everybody wants to make better music, you feel me? I can make “Hood Nigga” in my sleep. But it was more like “Can I make real music? Can I create subject matter? How far can I stretch?” Anybody can make hood music or club records, that’s not hard. But can you make music that touch people’s souls. That’s what I was out to do. I have a new lane I’m creating.

TSS: Are you worried about alienating your established fanbase with the new directions?

Gorilla Zoe: Hell nah, they’ll just have to play catch up.

TSS: It’s safe to say “Lost” took everybody by surprise. You actually have days like that?

Gorilla Zoe: Oh yeah, I think it’s safe to say everybody has days like that.

TSS: Why did Lil’ Wayne get cut from the song?

Gorilla Zoe: Politics. Little label shit. They choose and pick want they want to release.

TSS: And the title Don’t Feed The Animals doubles for the album and the movie. What does that mean exactly?

Gorilla Zoe: It basically means don’t give them niggas no money. It’s a post warning. Feed as in food actually means the money. And it’s post because I already got the money but once you taste success, you want more success and that’s what it is.

TSS: The [Don't Feed The Animals] chain is one of the most creative pieces we’ve seen in a while but the buzz on the Internet is everybody’s curious what it’s made out of and some were saying it was just plastic.

Gorilla Zoe: Is it plastic…(Laughs) I make $10,000-$12,000 every time I touch a stage dog. I do like 4 or 5 shows a week. The chain didn’t cost nothing but like $85,000. I worked for 6 months and we I confirmed my album title, I put a deposit down on that motherfucker and paying on it til’ my jeweler felt like it was done and we stop there.

Money ain’t no thang. Throw ‘em a couple thousand…10, 15…a dub…I forgot I was paying on it (Laughs). That’s not even the most expensive piece I got. Thecraftsmanship is what cost so much on that piece. I got that big spinning piece that’s iced out on both sides and nobody said anything about that!

TSS: So tell me about this Gorilla Zoe workout plan. You getting fit for the Arnold Classic?

Gorilla Zoe: (Laughs) Just trying to stay on top of my shit.

TSS: So does the album act as a soundtrack to the upcoming movie?

Gorilla Zoe: Yes and no. It’s got music from the album on it. It drops early summer.

TSS: You have Roxy Reynolds rapping on the album and acting in the movie, how’d that come about?

Gorilla Zoe: Oh she’s the homie. She wanted to start rapping and I gave her a shot.

TSS: You were in the news a little while back for an outrage in Dallas for talking to kids and then the story got twisted. I don’t think you’ve cleared that up. What happened exactly?

Gorilla Zoe: Yeah they tried to twist the story. Tried to make it seem like I was preaching negativity when I was giving them a motivational speech, talking them for about an hour telling them to do the right then in life.

TSS: The news report said you guys passed out clean posters too.

Gorilla Zoe: Yeah, they did but I didn’t even know anything about that. I wasn’t passing out anything. Private schools have been attacking public schools and really I was just a pawn in their game. I speak at schools of all ages on a regular basis, in the South, Midwest, wherever and this was definitely an isolated incident.

TSS: What’s the biggest misconception about Gorilla Zoe out there right now?

Gorilla Zoe: People really don’t know the extent of what I actually do. I’m not one of those rappers… “Hey! Make a hit. Throw it on an album! Sit at home and make more music.” I put 4 or 5 mixtapes out and do shows all year long.

TSS: Speaking of mixtapes, how come “Waddle” didn’t make the album?

Gorilla Zoe: (Laughs) I send in all my songs on a drive, usually bout 25 songs and Block. Puff and Harve [Pierre] will cut it up and take what they want.

TSS: What are you looking to accomplish from this point on in your career?

Gorilla Zoe: Just to be better man. At the end of the day, I wanna be a great…a legend. I’ve been working hard. If you look around, a lot of dudes who came in the same time I did, they ain’t around no more. The ones on top right now, they can’t do it forever. So when they move on, I wanna move up. But you gotta be right there. Gotta be working hard. So I understand the game.

Gorilla Zoe’s Don’t Feed The Animals is in stores now and the eponymous movie releases this summer. Here’s the official NSFW trailer.

Gorilla Zoe – Don’t Feed The Animals Movie Trailer (NSFW)

BONUS

Download — Gorilla Zoe Feat. Diddy – “Echo (Remix)”

Previously Posted — “What It Is” – Review Of Gorilla Zoe’s Don’t Feed Da Animals

Posted in "Fifteen Minutes With...", ARTIST INTERVIEWS, AUDIO, GENERAL, LOOSIES, MUSIC, Videos — Tags: Don't Feed The Animals, Gorilla Zoe, Roxy Reynolds, TSS Presents 15 Minutes With