URB: There is a line on “Glamorous Drunk” where you say, “You don’t even know how much the rap life cost.” What is the price of the rap life?
AWOL One: It comes with a lot of dedication. Sometimes there is money and sometimes there is not. A lot of time it wears on your current relationship. There are important things that I have missed that had to do with my daughter. A lot of these rappers really don’t know the long haul of it after you have been in the shit for 10, 15 years, and you still doing it no matter what and don’t give a fuck if you have five cars or you are riding a bike. They want to make an album and then they want all of this instant shit.
URB: Directly related to this idea of expectations is the current mix tape movement. So many artists are giving so much music away for free, what are your thoughts on this?
AWOL One: Well I was going to make a mix tape before this album and X was one of the people who told me not to. He said, “You’re a West Coast Artist; this isn’t something we need to do.” I have been talking about it with a bunch of people lately and its true there is just too much music and it’s so easy to get. I think if you are not an artist who is down to tour and make all kinds of merch, then you really are not going to make any money. I think for artists starting right now it’s going to going to be really hard because the platinum artist and the one at his house are both putting their shit on YouTube. Everyone has the same outlet. I think X was saying don’t give them too much, be more focused on what you want to release, or you see these rappers doing these YouTube videos telling you how they decorated their Christmas tree, and I think that takes away from the mystery of it.
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