So the reviews were pretty harsh.
I expected that. That's what they do. That's what they've been doing to me from the beginning, and eventually my spirit will shine through that. People will see my passion for this. It's slow and it's not an easy road, but I don't like taking the easy road. I'm all about hard work and really proving myself -- especially to the hip-hop community.
Dude, marrying rich, spending your wife's money on shoes, and sitting on your ass nine days out of ten is a tough damn road. You don't see a lot of men doin' it, 'cause not a lot of men can handle it.
Would it have been easier if you weren't famous?
Probably. I think it definitely could've been. If people didn't know who I was, a couple of the records that I've thrown out would've probably blown up huge by now. It would've just come out of nowhere -- people wouldn't know what to expect.
I think the fact that I got a lot of stuff built up behind me, you know, I gotta kinda battle that. But at the same time I'm really learning that I don't have to battle that. What I gotta do is get my ass out and go walk around these streets and talk to people because that's what's gonna get it done.
She's just holding me back! If my superstar wife weren't famous enough to have given me a job as a backup dancer in the first place, and if she weren't rich enough to fund my talentless hip-hop-ish blatherings, I'd have blown up a long time ago! I'd be the superstar, yo!
[You expect your album to succeed t]hrough word of mouth?
Very much so. It's good. I just went to the radio with [radio DJ] DJ Clue and gave him the record -- he hasn't heard any of the music at all -- so I think he's really gonna be inspired. That's what it is -- I need to get with artists on that level. I need to get with people in the industry and let it be heard, because radio ain't really trying to play it too much. It's gonna be about word of mouth, man. It's gonna be about people picking it up, listening to it, talking about it, going to their friends and telling them, "You know what?" And it's already happening. Yeah, the critics and whoever -- who is a critic? You know what I'm saying? Who deserves to be a critic?
Shit, y'all, my album is so awesome, radio stations won't even play it, it's so awesome. Them critics are just jealous, 'cause you know they want a rich wife to support them while they record "Popozao."
To a certain extent you invite questions about your family by talking about it so much on the record.
Not really. I spoke on there because it's been out there so much; because I don't have a choice. If I had a choice I would keep my family just completely away from everything. But that's not the way it is. My family is talked about, and my family is judged, and people in my family are judged, and I'm judged. It's not right, but at the same time it's fine because it's the ammunition that I used for this album. This is my foot in the door in telling people that I'm standing up for myself, I'm standing up for my wife, I'm standing up for my kids. Go ahead and keep messing with us, and that's fine. This is my shot at you. I'm not going to do it too much anymore. The rest of my music is going the universal route. I think that's where I'm going to win.
[Editor's Note: I... I got nothing here. Feel free to submit your own translation. Otherwise... Nothing. I've got nothing. Moving on.]
Why do you think it is that a lot of people have a negative reaction to you?
I think the media played a big part of that. I think the beginning of my introduction to the world was not the greatest. When people first saw me and first heard about it, and it became global news ... within one week almost the whole world knew who I was. Within one week. So, you really have to look at that and take into perspective that the first light that you're shown is like them judging a book by a cover. That's all they've seen -- the cover of the book. They haven't really thought past that or tried to look past that.
All they saw was this guy who was a marginally skilled dancer who was determined to be a rapper even though he sucked at it and who had one kid already and had knocked his girlfriend up again and she was actually pregnant when he started boning Britney Spears and then stopped working. And they judge me for that, and that's wrong, yo.
You said it yourself, in the space of one week your life changed. How did that affect you?
At the time it was great, because I didn't pay attention to it. It helped me out all the way through to where I am right now, because I didn't pay any attention to it, because I was falling in love with this girl. I didn't see her as Britney Spears. People look at her and there's fans and there's "Oh my god, celebrity" and all that. I was never the guy that was star-struck. I've never been that person. I've never been the person that was, "Oh let me have your autograph and let me have your picture." That's not me. Not since I moved to L.A. eight years ago and started dancing for all these artists. I've never been that way. I brought the real dude and she fell in love with that, and I fell in love with her for the country girl that she is. I look past all the other stuff. I don't care about your money. I don't care about your fame. I don't care about any of that,
I didn't see her as a celebrity or nothing. I saw her as a hot piece of ass. And a meal ticket! And that's love, right there.
The watch you're wearing is worth more money than I've made in the last five years.
That's my baby. Whenever I made some money that's the first thing I went and bought.
I call it my baby 'cause Britney sent me out to buy diapers for the first kid, what's his name, and I got this watch instead. It's fly.
How many shoes do you have?
Probably like 80 to 100 pairs. My watch game is ridiculous -- just jewelry in general. It's an investment. I bought this [points to his watch], and it's already gone up in value. All the jewelry I'm wearing has already gone up in value.
The dude who sells this stuff to me on the corner of South Market and La Brea, he says that all this shit'll double in value in two, three weeks. My shoes might triple.
You're not planning on selling it anytime soon are you?
Hell no. I ain't getting rid of it. I'm going to go out and get some more. It's great to be able to go and do that stuff, but you really sit back and think about it ... You could have all the money in the world and within two months of having that ... Say you hit the lotto, right? Two months of having that money, you go and buy a mansion, you buy a big-ass boat, you travel all around the world, you do everything in two months. That's not gonna buy you happiness. That's not gonna define who I am. It only goes so far. There's something way beyond that that's deep that I have with my wife that nobody will ever understand.
And, see, that's why I say Britney's not like a celebrity to me. She's like a lotto ticket. What we got is deep, so deep that I can go out and spend all her money on watches and shit, and if I throw the receipt away, I can tell her, "No, baby, this ain't new, this is somethin' I had already." We're deep like that, and nobody will ever understand.
What's the last book you read?
Last book I read was either -- man, somebody just asked me this shit today -- it was either Russell Simmons' or Puffy's book. I'm really studying people who have been in this business and people who have really made themselves into a business from nothing because basically that's ... you see the watch and you see the jewelry and even though, yeah, I do have money, in a sense, I act like I really don't. Right now the way I look at it is that I'm broke and I'm struggling to get this shit off.
Even, like, just when I was leavin' the house today, Britney was all, "Kevin," she calls me Kevin, she said, "Kevin, you need to quit acting like you're rich. You need to act like you're broke and struggling. Because you are. I'm skinny again and I'm hot and going on Letterman, and your ass is broke and all alone." And I was like, "That's deep, Britney. That's way deep." And people don't understand.
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