S. Samuel
With this week's release of Lil Scrappy's The Grustle, SOHH spoke with the Southern emcee to get his input on dropping his Distrubin' Tha Peace debut under Ludacris.
For Scrappy, he felt Luda gave him the best freedom to work on the project.
“Luda let me do my thing,” Scrappy told SOHH. “[DTP manager] Chaka, everybody let me do my thing. They come in where they come in. Where I need them to come in, they come through and do they label thing. But me, I’m me, by myself. I’ve been doing it by myself — that was the whole thing with getting off Warner Brothers and not messing with Violator Management, going to get my own management. Nobody sent them to me, somebody to really get my team right…Or I could be like Beanie [Sigel], you know what I’m saying, just go hard on Luda cuz. [laughs] I don’t know if I’m gonna win or not…[laughs].” (SOHH)
He previously explained how he parted ways with Warner Music earlier this year.
“Before I even made the move I had just talked to [Warner Music Group CEO] Tom Whalley and told him I need to get off,” Scrappy said in an interview. “Because basically, Warner Bros is a rock and roll label. So they didn’t really understand what to do with me as of then. Even though I showed them two or three times, this is me Scrappy, this is how I move, young gangsta from Atlanta, I do what I do, try to stay outta trouble but you know how sh*t go. But he believed in me enough, he didn’t want to hurt my career, so he let me go, after that I went through a couple of label situations, it wasn’t looking too good.I always had this stop-and-go relationship with Chaka and Luda — That was the best contract I ever signed. Just being a rapper or whatever, that’s the best contract I ever signed.” (Rolling Out TV)
Upon joining forces with Luda, Scrappy previously hinted at who would be featured on his DTP debut.
“I’m done with [my album],” Scrap said in an interview earlier this summer. “I’m 100 percent done with it. I got Gucci Mane on the album, Diamond, Luda, Trey Songz, Pleasure P and Maino. Luda is on the first single, called ‘Addicted to Money,’ produced by The J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League. It’s called The Grustle — grind and hustle! I been grinding and hustling the whole time.” (Vibe)
DTP co-CEO Jeff Dixon confirmed Scrappy’s addition to the label last spring.
“We’re just excited to sign him because he’s been in the game for a long time and he never got the shot he needed to get,” Dixon said. “He has exciting music….He brings another dynamic to our label. We’re adding another dimension.” Dixon said Scrappy’s next album, on which Ludacris will serve as a co-executive producer, should be out sometime in September. This summer, Scrappy could be featured on a probable DTP tour. Until then, Scrap will be dropping mixtapes, appearing on albums from Luda and DTP labelmate Willy Northpole and shooting a film. (MTV)
Check out Lil Scrappy speaking with SOHH about Ludacris below:
