Livin' legend B.G. has been a steadfast representative of the New Orleans hip-hop scene for years, twelve to be exact. After starting out on a then fledging Cash Money Records, Gizzle rose to prominence with the Hot Boyz and helped put the crew on the map, showing that there was more to the N.O. than just Mardi Gras.

Then it all crumbled.

Always one who has produced consistently strong music that was unwavering in style, content and lyricisim, B.G. dusted himself off like the Phoenix and , out of the ashes, he brought with him his crew. Rising stars The Chopper City Boyz, comprised of Sniper, VL Mike, Hakim (aka Hakizzle) and Gar, are set to release their debut album, We Got This (KOCH Records/Chopper City Records) on February 27.

TSS: What’s up y’all?

B.G.: What’s happenin’?

V.L.Mike: Chillin’.

TSS: The album’s comin’ out February 27th, and y’all have been getting a lot of love off the single, “Make 'Em Mad” (Produced by David Banner)…do you have any plans on what the next single is going to be?

BG: Honestly, man, I aint even sure yet. We’re gonna let the streeets decide ‘cause we’re not even thinking that far ahead. So yeah, the streets’ll decide. We’re getting love off of the first single “Make ‘Em Mad” and we’re in the process of remixing it right now. We might hit you with the remix then a second single, you know? I don’t want to jump into something ‘cause I want the fans to hear the whole album and then see what they’re leaning towards.

TSS: Cool. I heard that you guys did “Chopper City Christmas”. How did that go?

Gar: It went well at the radio station, man. A bunch of kids showed up, it was good.

TSS: Well, each of you has a distinct style. What do each of you bring to the table as a member of Chopper City Boyz?

Sniper: You talkin’ about flow-wise?

TSS: Yeah, flow-wise.

Sniper: My flow is adequate, you know what I mean? That’s how I describe it, I give you just what you need.

Gar: I pretty much don’t have a style, I mean I came up listening to the Hot Boyz and then I listened to every east coast artist out there you know? Once I got up with G, I started listenin’ to beat tapes. So I can’t really say I have a style ‘cause I do it fast, I do it slow, whatever. I do what the beat tells me to.

TSS: Cool. Mike, you there?

V.L.Mike: Yeah, I’m still here man. What you need?

TSS: Same question for you man.

V.L. Mike: You know them bulldozers, the ones they be knockin’ down buildings with? You know what I’m talkin’ ‘bout?

TSS: Yeah.

V.L.Mike: G sees me like one of them, I just knock shit down. Bottom line, it is what it is. I don’t give a fuck. I mean, I give a fuck about life but if I die it’s my time. It is what it is - raw and uncut. Aint no cuttin’ corners, no nothin’. If a motherfucker say different, they lyin’. Chopper City, that’s New Orleans, that’s uptown, off the block, it is what it is. G came at me with Chopper City , that’s who I signed up with and I needed that.

Sniper: Hakizzle, bruh. That nigga got a hundred and sixty styles, ya heard me? There’s no tellin’ where he comes from, he comes at you from all angles, that nigga a beast.

BG: I mean, really and truly, if you ain't got the album yet, when you get it the album is pretty much gonna speak for itself. Everybody’s not comin’ from the same corner, they’re comin’ off four different corners with me in the middle. That’s what makes it strong all the way around the board.

Gar: I feel sorry for the one in the center when we do get there, nah mean?

V.L.Mike: It is what it is, bottom line. We Got This. The album’s meaning, ‘Yo we got it.’ You ain't gotta go nowhere else, you ain't gotta go to another stoop.

TSS: Word. B.G., you’ve been in the game a long time man. You’ve learned a lot. How are you passing that knowledge off to the Chopper City Boyz?

B.G.: Like I say, they pretty much been around me since I left Cash Money. I know Gar, all of them, they were around me when I started Chopper City Records. They seen what I been goin’ through, they see how I deal with myself when I get in certain situations you know what I’m sayin’? All of them are wise enough to pay attention, and game recognize game. I lead by example and – (laughs) my bad, you know what I mean.

TSS: That’s cool, you said a lot right there.(laughs)

B.G.: You know, like I told mister man earlier, I get asked the same question over and over and I can’t answer it no different. I’ve been tryin’ to give you the same answer. But you’ll see, I already told them that the ball’s in their court. I walked them to the door, now walk in from there.

TSS: So after this album, you guys are working on solo projects, right?

Gar: Yeah, we workin’ on that. We’re in the studio, Hakizzle and I and we’re doin’ what we do.

TSS: So what drives each one of you in general?

BG: Really and truly man, my family drives me, the streets drive me, my children drive me, I pretty much drive myself man. I let Baby drive me and I crashed, you know what I mean? And I say the sky’s the limit when you’re dedicated and focused. When I say the streets drive me, I talk about the what I see in the streets and the more I stay in the studio the more I stay out of trouble. It’s like that for me.

Sniper: The struggle drives me, ya heard me?

Gar: The music for one thing, bruh. When we all come together to go to the studio that just drives me to make more music andI love music. We all got kids, you know. The kids drive us but for me, it’s just the love of the music. The shit that we come up with is just…just amazin’ to me bruh, to have four different imaginations make shit like that, ya heard me?

V.L.Mike: For me it’s just the love, just the response makes me wanna keep doin’ it bruh.

TSS: What’s one thing that bothers you about the rap game?

V.L.Mike: What bothers me? Studio gangster, fake-ass rappers. I mean, niggas are always gon’ say ‘this nigga’s just rappin’. Well, you can keep it, I don’t fuck with it. So without sayin’ no names, any studio gangster…I’m smashin’ ‘em. That’s how I feel. If they ask for me, this is V.L. Put that down.

TSS: You got it.

Gar: What bothers me about the rap game, I know we can’t stop it, it’s the bootleggers. It’s like everybody goes to the studio bruh, workin’ hard, puttin in shit for their family and the bootleggers knock a nigga down, that’s what bothers me man.

Sniper: I’ma have to go with what Gar said bruh, ‘cause they takin’ out of a nigga’s mouth, takin’ from a nigga’s family and hurtin’ his way of life, you know what I’m sayin’?

BG: I been pretty much against the bootleggin’ since it came into existence, but I nowadays I aint even focused on the bootleggin’ no more ‘cause I know corporate America’s got an answer for that you know what I’m sayin’? In the next three or four years, there ain't gonna be no more CD’s or cassettes, everything’s gonna be downloaded. What bothers me is the face of corporate America man, they be endorsin’ that bullshit. When I do it, I do it ‘cause I love to do it, I do it from the heart and these labels take what a nigga love to do and turn it into a business. Which is cool but if you do business, do business right. The one thing that bothers me is what these labels do, playin’ games with a nigga’s livelihood.

TSS: B.G., what’s the difference between being a CEO and an artist been like for you? Do you see any difference?

BG: Being an artist I get to focus on the music, just focus on that part of the game. I mean, being a CEO, it takes understanding and business sense. When you get to a certain level, a lot of things get taken out of your hands. Being a CEO you gotta make calls and make decisions based on certain things, you know what I’m sayin’? Sometimes you might be right for the wrong reasons and wrong for the right reasons, you know?

TSS: Yeah.

B.G.: It’s just so hard – it’s a headache, it’s a headache man I swear it is. A lot of things I couldn’t understand, going back to the last question about things bothering me. Being a CEO goes into a whole ‘nother world, and being the type of nigga I am I gotta know what’s going on, ‘cause sometimes there’s things goin’ on in this world I don’t be understandin’ sometimes, like how could motherfuckers be this raw with a nigga’s life, a nigga who dedicates themselves and appreciates it, know what I’m sayin’? Being an artist aint strange, you just do what you do.

Being a CEO – I be a CEO when it’s time to be a CEO. I pay people who put in work, who step up to handle that game for me. That’s why my auntie, she runs things and when it’s time for me to step in, I step in. I make all the final decisions. Being a CEO is 24/7, it aint as easy as a motherfucker think it is tho’, it aint what its all amped up to be.

TSS: Right. So, I want you guys to give me your favorite track off this album.

Gar: ’Got It Going On’. That’s my shit right there. That’s a track all my niggas came off on.

Sniper: I have to say the whole fuckin’ album, ya heard me? ’Cause we all put our hearts into it.

B.G.: My favorite track on the album gotta be that number 2, ‘Taking Over’, man. I put that motherfucker on repeat man.

Sniper: You know which one I like? The one that go, “You a killer, be a killer, you a rider, be a rider…”

B.G.: I'ma go to bat for like five of ‘em as my favorite man, but you always got that one that you put on repeat, that one you play more than the other ones. That’s track #2 for me.

V.L.Mike: I like that “Thoro Street Nigga”, that’s track number five. ‘Cause I aint slack like these other fuckin’ groups. You gotta keep it real across the board. Only way to be different and not like these fuckin’ lames and duck ass niggas, it is what it is. That’s how we ride. We got this, just like the album name, like I said we holdin’ it down. We’re what the streets need, we’re what the streets are missin’, you know what I mean? That’s V.L. Put it in black.

TSS: How do you feel about people who don’t respect Southern hip-hop?

B.G.: You aint gotta respect it but you can’t deny it. To each his own, know what I mean? I don’t even let that bother me ‘cause I know it aint goin’ nowhere. Everybody who’s got something to say about it are probably motherfuckers who aint got their feet wet, who don’t mean nothin’ to hip-hop.

Sniper: I don’t give a fuck what these people say, like G said it aint goin’ nowhere.

Gar: I feel like this - everybody get a turn, dog. I mean, everybody had a turn, all cultures and now it’s on the south. We done turned this shit into a major movement If niggas don’t respect us, it aint gonna matter. Everybody gets a turn bruh, it’s what you do with it.

B.G.: You can’t even find no east coast album or no west coast album or an album anywhere without a southern beat on it. So what does that say?

V.L.Mike: Uh-hmm. Number one, New Orleans is the dirtiest part of the south, we comin’ from the dirt. It’s the murder capital of the fuckin’ world, it is what it is. I wish somebody would fuckin’ say it to my face about how they feel about hip hop from the motherfuckin’ south an’ I’ll show ‘em. That’s how I feel. I aint callin’ out no names but I aint sugarcoatin’ it neither. We just don’t give a fuck, we gon’ speak our minds one way or the other. So respect our mind one way or the other. If we knock on the door and you ignore it, we gon’ keep kickin’ ‘till we knock the bitch down. You can’t hold the south back, it’s our time and we do what we do. Put that one in red.

TSS: In light of everything that happened during and after Hurricane Katrina, what does New Orleans mean to you above all else?

Gar: New Orleans means life to me, man, New Orleans is my past present and future, ya heard me?

Sniper: All I know is New Orleans, that’s where I was born and raised at.

B.G.: When you say Chopper City, Chopper City stands for New Orleans. When you say that, that’s me.

TSS: Thank you guys for the interview, much success on the album

Sniper: We ‘preicate that, man!!!

B.G.: All right pimp, later.

"Make 'Em Mad" - Streaming Audio and Streaming Video

For more info on B.G. and Chopper City Boyz, visit www.myspace.com/ChopperCityBoyz and www.myspace.com/BGizzle.