XXLMag.com: How does a nice R&B singer such as yourself end up on an independent rap label like Asylum?

Slim: Shouts to Shakir Stewart [Senior Vice President of Def Jam], you know we’re boys. He was like, “I get your music.” I’ve been in the major system for so long, it was just becoming monotonous. I want to do something my way, my own imprint. He made the phone call to Joie, Joie sent Sickamore to Atlanta to hear the music. You should have seen this whole episode. I’m driving up, Sickamore stands out in front of the spot, he sits in the back of the car and says, “Play me some music.” I play the first record, and the first record must have got him. He is trying his best in the car like “Okay, go to the next one.” Next song was “So Fly.” He has his brim over the eyes, “Could you go back to the first one, okay.” Then he goes back inside to get the CD. He must have played it for the people he had inside. He comes back, and says “Come up.”

That sounds like some secretive stuff going on. Some Mafia type stuff? When we go inside he had his whole street team. He was like “Your music really sounds good.” So that’s how things got started. I didn’t really want to do a solo project, but I did want to start my own label. Everybody knows that I have a distinctive sound, working with 112. To get the ball rolling it’s easy, so that’s why I came with Love’s Crazy. But I have other projects coming. I’m working with Faith. I am working with a nineteen-year-old rapping sensation, Diesel aka Fresh money. I have my group Ivy League. I am doing an album with 8Ball of 8Ball & MJG; we call it Fatboy Slim: The movie. We are bringing the best worlds of both worlds, Memphis and Atlanta. We are coming together.

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