J-Banks

U.S.D.A.: The Summer's About To Get Real Cold

After two successful solo releases, Young Jeezy decided to use some of his star power to launch the careers of artists on his CTE imprint and the first choices were artists by the name of Slick Pulla and Blood Raw, both of which -- along with Jeezy himself -- are collectively known as U.S.D.A. And it seems to have worked, as their debut effort, titled Cold Summer, entered the Billboard 200 at no. 4, moving just shy of 100,000 copies in its first week.

Just days before the release, BallerStatus.com chopped it up with the trio to get some insight as to where the group is coming from mentally, why the two commercially unknown rappers were chosen by Jeezy to be the first to drop on his CTE label and how much the Snowman loves Christina Aguilera, among other things. So while everyone is out there shopping for new summer clothes, you may want to pick up some heavy jackets, because U.S.D.A. plan to make it the snow throughout the entire summer season. Break out the chinchillas 'cause the temperature is dropping.

BallerStatus.com: Your on tour right now, so how are the fans reacting to the new music?

Blood Raw: The tour is real successful. We ain't have no problems, no violence. We've been packing out the venues and everything has been going well. They going crazy. We just giving them us and the response has been real good.

BallerStatus.com: How did Slick Pulla and Blood Raw originally hook up with Jeezy?

Slick Pulla: We just met up on the grind. Music was something I was doing. Like I was writing and stuff... you know how it is with the music game. It was nothing I was taking serious at that point, but I met Coach K and through Coach K that's how Jeezy and me hooked up. They took me under their wing and ever since then it's been history. I've been with Jeezy since the beginning.

Blood Raw: Actually me and Jeezy used to run into each other in the streets because we was both grinding at the same time, passing around mixtapes and doing our hustle thing or whatever. At a particular time in Alabama, we both was on the ticket for a show. I performed before [Jeezy's] set and they couldn't believe the crowd's response, so Jeezy ran on stage and was like, "We heard about you a lot, so we wanna make this happen?" They flew me to Atlanta and in less than a week, it was situated.

Blood Raw and Slick Pulla: We've been there since the beginning, grinding.

BallerStatus.com: So talk about that grind a little bit, when you guys and Jeezy were coming up.

Slick Pulla: It was straight on foot tacks, you know? We was the street team. We hop out the vans, all of us, with book bags and hit the streets up. It was just a blessing that the music that was on those CDs started a whole cult following. It's just been grinding. We was there for all the long studio hours, the interviews, the signings, everything. We was at everything, so now it's supposed to be a breeze for us. Now he's presenting us to the world and it's our time to show and prove.

BallerStatus.com: So what's it like to go from being behind the scenes, doing all the leg work, to being pushed to the forefront as the artists now?

Slick Pulla: It's a little different because... with seeing him do it, that's one thing, but for us to have to do it, it's another. It's a different type of feeling and it's better because we already seen the mistakes, the good times and everything.

Blood Raw: It's kinda like the re-beginning because this is a new phase. Basically we gotta go back to those old tactics. All we've learned and strengths we've gained, it's time to put them to use.

BallerStatus.com: Now, Jeezy, you're on both sides of the ball right now. You're the artist and label head... is it hard to keep both duties separate?

Young Jeezy: I'm ghetto as a motherf---er, I'm gonna be real with you. But, I keep my business head on. I understand both sides of it, which is a gift and a curse, but at the same time, it's a gift because I know music, I know marketing, and I know how sh-- works. With all that knowledge, I'm able to give my artists that same game and let them know how the system works because I didn't have that knowledge coming into it. I learn everyday.

BallerStatus.com: Being that all three of you are solo artists, why form a group?

Blood Raw: U.S.D.A. has been Jeezy's heart from the beginning, but we was like the missing pieces to the puzzle. Slick was actually here before me. And when I came around, I was the final piece to the puzzle, it was time to put the Deceptacon in the streets. Like the Transformers, when they form together, you already know what it is. That's what it was. All the puzzle had to be put together, and we came together, so it's the time. We're the first group off the Corporate Thugz roster because we want to be presented as a whole, instead of individuals.

BallerStatus.com: Obviously Jeezy's success is gonna help right off the bat, so how has that benefited USDA thus far?

Blood Raw: It's been real beneficial. We were on the cover of XXL, so that was just one out of many things to show you how beneficial it's been. As new artists or especially a new group like us, that don't happen. Look at us, we're doing an interview with BallerStatus. It's a blessing that, that's happening. Who's to say if it was just me and Slick that'd we'd be talking to you now without Jeezy.

BallerStatus.com: So, there's always been a stigma with groups who come out with a star as one of the members. For example, D12 has always gotten mixed feelings from critics because of that fact... How does USDA plan to combat that kind of flack?

Blood Raw: The thing with bosses and groups, you never have people... like we're three leaders and Jeezy is just the forefront of U.S.D.A., but that's why we're gonna show and prove to the world. Like I said, we're all solo artists also. Slick is his own man, Blood Raw is his own man and Jeezy is his own man. We are able to hold a label down as individuals. That's what you don't have in group projects. You have one leader and then followers, but that's not the case with us. Jeezy made it before us and he's giving us the opportunity -- because he believes in us -- to show the world something unbelievable... like you ain't gonna believe this album.

BallerStatus.com: Have you had to deal with that yet?

Blood Raw: Yea because any time something looks successful, you gonna have negativity.

Slick Pulla: Really, in the streets, people know us. We'll be in a spot, just one of us, and people be asking where the other is. So, we get that love from the streets individually.

Blood Raw: The thing they gotta realize too is that me and Slick done had success from mixtapes. We probably did over 50, 60,000 units in the streets on both mixtapes. Since my mixtape has been out, I've been on the road every weekend doing shows. The only reason Slick wasn't been able to work his mixtape was because he was probation, but when he was off, we hit the road. We both have our own followings also.

BallerStatus.com: Ok, so being that Jeezy is part of the group, what's different about U.S.D.A.'s group album, as compared to a solo album from Jeezy?

Slick Pulla: This is U.S.D.A., so all the swag blends to make one. Like the album is not an album slanted toward any of us, it's U.S.D.A. It's all beats we're all accustomed to, but we all hopped on beats you might not hear on our solo albums. There's a vibe on there that you wouldn't get from us individually.

Blood Raw: It's a weekend of Jeezy, Slick Pulla and Blood Raw. We go out to the club, kick it and have fun, then we go back to the studio... go to Miami, South Beach. We even get deep, then we got something for the ladies. It's just three minds in one.

BallerStatus.com: White Girl is the first single... talk about the meaning behind the song and why a "White Girl?"

Young Jeezy: White Girl is just us wanting to have fun in a hood way. When n----s get drunk in the club, they wanna say silly sh-- like that, you know? I happen to like Christina Aguilera a whole lot, so get at me (laughs), but that's neither here nor there. Nah, I'm talking sh--. At the end of the day, it's like in Atlanta, we got different sounds and that's trap music. That's what you hear in the hood, like what I came out on. That's the Trap Or Die type of sounds. We're just taking it back to there and having fun with it though.

Blood Raw: It's for the club. We needed a club record. People always say we're too gangsta or we never have fun, so we went to the club and had fun. The whole concept is different. On the song, we're talking about jewelry, street situations, but the whole concept is about having fun and wilding like a frat party. It goes down at frat parties. That's the whole club idea of it. People will have their own interpretation of it, but I'm telling you it's about us having fun at a frat party and doing things we don't usually do.

BallerStatus.com: What kind of feedback have you gotten from the first two singles?

Young Jeezy: On street n----s love the "Check" single, but in the clubs, "White Girl" is a beast. Crazy.

BallerStatus.com: The album is called Cold Summer, so tell us what people should expect from it.

Young Jeezy: Cold Summer is like this man: we're here just to tear sh-- up. We're talking it back to the basics, but give them a little something old and a little something new. It's got that real album sound with young cats on it, who speak on sh-- real n----s can relate to in the hood. I think Cold Summer is the perfect title because everybody know the summer's hot, so we're gonna come through with that work. We're gonna come through and give n----s what they want. I'm trying to make a n---- ride around in his convertible with his chinchilla on. I want them to feel where we're coming from. This sh-- is real.

A lot of these motherf---ers get on these tracks and be talking about what they done man, but we ain't on it like that. We know what type of n----s we are, but at the same time, we just like to make the type of music we make for the type of people that like it. When you know you're lane, you good. It's when everybody starts asking you what you expect to do and all that. Who gives f---? (laughing). We expect to make a difference.


Source-ballerstatus

__________________

JBanksblog.com - check it out
__________________

Think Muzik

i only liked about 3-4 songs off the release...they dope tho.

scool

it was a solid album, slick killed it