S. Samuel
G-Unit's Lloyd Banks has revealed a past temptation to give up his rap career due to personal struggles in the mid-2000's.
According to Banks, the trials of his father’s 2006 passing and dealing with his mother’s failing health condition made him uninspired to rhyme.
“I was completely ready to say f*ck it,” Banks said in an interview. “50 [Cent‘s] whole thing was just, ‘Push on, push on.’ But he didn’t grow up with his mother and his father. Seeing my life pass before my eyes, it was like, no matter how much sh*t you have or how good you’re doing, you’re going to go through this and be devastated.” (XXL Mag)
Last month, 50 admitted he pushed Banks to fight through his personal struggles.
“[Lloyd] Banks had a legitimate reason to be upset with me at one point. His pops passed away and his moms was in a car accident, he shut down because he didn’t see the response he was looking for from the Rotten Apple record and I was a little insensitive in those areas because I didn’t know my father and I lost my mother when I was eight. So I don’t see a reason why I should stop pushing. If your pops passes away — depression is a luxury I can’t afford.” (Hot 97)
In September, rap star Nelly also revealed contemplating leaving hip-hop behind due to family losses.
“My sister passed in ’05 and 6 months later my grandfather died. All through ’06 and ’07 I felt that way. I didn’t know what I was doing. I’ve never experienced death with people that close to me. The more time you spend with someone that’s when it hurts the most. If you’ve been with people for 30 years and all of sudden they’re gone, it affects you more. I did come to a point where I wanted to quit. But I never showed it on the outside. People didn’t know I was f*cked up, but that’s on me.” (VIBE)
He also said Diddy helped re-motivate him back into hip-hop.
The Bad Boy boss told Nelly that he needed to “speed it up.” “He was like, ‘Let’s go! What are you waiting on?’ ” Nelly recalled. He admitted that the advice forced him to reflect on whether Diddy’s words of wisdom might have merit. With his last album, 2008’s Brass Knuckles, Nelly experienced his first commercial disappointment. Although the album was certified gold, selling more than 500,000 copies, his previous efforts were all multiplatinum smashes. The rapper replayed Diddy’s talk in his head, and the result of that conversation, according to Nelly, is “Just a Dream,” the rapper’s first top 10 hit since 2005’s “Grillz,” featuring Paul Wall. “I was like, ‘You know what? You’re right,'” Nelly said. “And I left the party to go to the studio.” (MTV)
Check out a recent Lloyd Banks interview below:
