You have to have a balance, and I think that people get upset about Hip-Hop and say that it's dead because there is no balance. It's just all this simple-minded music, and it doesn't seem to be any content, and the dance club music outnumbers the little content there is.
I think a lot of people feel like they still have something to prove, because when you get in and you're chasing success, you always feel like you have something to prove. But at this point, I feel like an underdog, and I actually like being in that position.
If nobody wants to buy your album, who's going to buy your clothes?
The visual is everywhere in the streets, but in the industry, it's like you have to show up at this party and you can't take on the world in one day. It's a gradual process, but you can't let it frustrate you; you just have to keep grinding.
The streets and the industry are two different things. You could be one super-hot artist in the streets, and you could walk into a corporate building, and people would be like, "Who are you?"
I'll step in an airport just now, and people will recognize me. I'm in Harlem on 144th and whatever, and people are coming up to me like, "What's up, Chamillionaire?" And seeing it grow is, nothing turning into something, that feeling is a really good feeling.
I try to keep the music fresh in my head. And I don't always listen to rap; I listen to a little bit of everything: R&B, rock.
I'm one of these people that just like to brainstorm.
When you grow up and you start having all these problems and your little sister gets pregnant, you're dealing with all these money problems and bills and the company, you ain't going to want to talk about that. Or maybe you will, but me personally, I just can't do that.
I might tell a story about somebody else, but I don't sit there and do a story about somebody snitching on me selling coke because people know I didn't sell coke. So I just try to keep it real but still try to do it in a creative way.
I just sit there and try to think of stuff that I could do that's a little different but still not step outside of who I am.
Most people hear me do all these freestyles and never hear me tell a story.
All the carbon copies, the stuff that the industry puts together, it's not selling if you pay attention and look at the charts. The stuff that they put together, these hits that just go out, it doesn't sell. It doesn't have a core fan base of fans that dedicatedly watch their life. It's just a song, another song, another hit song, a one-hit wonder. It doesn't sell. It doesn't last.
If I asked you something about basketball and you don't really know about basketball and you try to talk it and fake it, I'm going to be able to tell. It's the same way about music; you have to be real.
If you're a humble person, and you walk in, and you start talking, people are going to be able to tell. You can't fake it.
I just try to do me, and I feel like it works.
People can see it when you're honest and sincere.
I go out in the streets, and I go to shows, and I see my fans turn from "I like your last rap" to "I feel your movement; you're keeping it all the way real." One thing I've always said is that's never been my story, and I'm not going to go back on my word.
It would be crazy for me to come out now talking about selling drugs and doing all this stuff I never did for the sake of A&R or records or trying to keep the street buzz or whatever.
It just gets old when you hear a million raps about how many ways I could shoot you.
I just try to be more creative and come with something new because I actually care about the music.
I feel that success is the best revenge in this world.
I didn't have nothing handed to me. It's a hard, long road getting to where I'm at. And I think the fans that have been down with me for a long time, they see that. They've been seeing me clawing my way to try to get to the top.
If you go down to Texas, people are real proud about and they rep Texas.
I couldn't make every song about Texas because it wouldn't be new; it wouldn't be a breath of fresh air.
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