Artist: C-Murder
Interviewer: RJ Walker

C-Murder is back in his native Louisiana prepping the release of his a DVD and CD in short order after seeing his murder conviction overturned. He sounds like a man well aware of the limited opportunities offered by life and seems poised to take advantage of his time, if it is indeed again limited by a jail sentence. But C-Murder is not just worried about his future, he wants to make things better for his fellow New Orleans natives and for Hip Hop period.

C-Murder recently had the opportunity to start his own imprint, and is now recording under his own record label for the first time in his career. He also is expanding his networks, working with former perceived rivals from Cash Money Records and feeling excited about what could come from these collaborations. One thing that is for certain is that C-Murder will not waste any opportunities coming his way.

SoundSlam: You're coming out with a CD and a DVD. Are you feeling rushed because of some legal situations?

C-Murder: No, I don't feel rushed at all, I've just been waiting to put down what's going on in my head.

SoundSlam: Someone should have tried to offer you a TV show.

C-Murder: I've already been offered that, a reality TV show, but they didn't want to show how it's going down or the extent of it.

SoundSlam: Do you feel like God gave you a second chance when the court overturned the conviction?

C-Murder: I can't speak on it, but you better believe I stay prayed up and count my blessings.

SoundSlam: What was the first thing you did when you got out?

C-Murder: I got up with my family first thing. Then I got me some good food and some TV, you heard.

SoundSlam: Do you feel a lot of what happened with your trial is related to you being a rapper and a black man?

C-Murder: You know, the season right now, it's kind of hot for rappers. There's going to be situations and sometimes that's just what you have to go through. You got to learn from it and move on and just prevent it in the future. It's never going to get better, just worse.

SoundSlam: You feel like it's going to get worst?

C-Murder: Yeah man, any kind of situation you get in, they see all this big media attention they getting right now, they're going to be promoting, and keep promoting this till it turns around. It going to do nothing but get worse before it gets better and that's just how I see it.

SoundSlam: How did other prisoners treat you in the pen and did it help you or hurt you on the inside?

C-Murder: According to the situations I'm in now, I was told I couldn't really speak on it at this time.

SoundSlam: What record label are you releasing the DVD on right now? Is it going to be on No Limit or TRU Records?

C-Murder: 100 percent TRU Records. No Limit, no hate but they're on the left and we're taking a right turn, you feel me. We got a distribution deal with Asylum Records. After the DVD, we still have a distribution deal with Asylum Records.

SoundSlam: How did you hook that up so soon?

C-Murder: We just went online with a bunch of labels and just had a lot of openings. You got to understand, I've been in the game for a while. There were a lot of situations and I wasn't going to get in a bad situation I couldn't get out of. Everything had to be black or white.

SoundSlam: How did you go around making the DVD? Who's the director and how did you link up with the people who helped you make the DVD?

C-Murder: We've got a lot going on, we're like a major record label basically. I already had a team, with our own cameras and equipment, high definition and everything. I got my own producers and we're ready to make movies. All I had to do was let everyone know what we were doing and a timeframe. We got down with it and this is my city, you know. All you had to do was put me in a room with a camera and just walk through my city, my neighborhood, and we put all of that into the DVD.

SoundSlam: What's going to be the highlights?...Is it going to show the devastation from Katrina, how did that affect the making of the DVD?

C-Murder: The DVD isn't really about me at the end of the day, it's about the movement. I'm trying to showing the progress of me, the artist, the label, the city of New Orleans. We're going into different neighborhoods and showing the everyday in urban areas and showing the projects where I'm from. Kids don't have nowhere to sleep and really a future. This is something my organization, with help from the PRIDE organization, let me build in on the streets trying to do. We're just doing the things we're doing so I can let them know that someone still cares about them. We're doing things to bring the city back. There's a lot going on. You'll see me on the street doing to things to generate money for the city. It's on.

SoundSlam: How are things in the city right now, because I know that you can't really leave? Does it feel like you're trying to bring the city back by yourself?

C-Murder: There's a lot of stuff that's going on the media don't really get to see. There's a lot of people down here doing their thing. They are bringing a lot of business and money down here and showing that they care. You got me down here, you got Baby and Wayne from Cash Money. They got something going on every Christmas and Thanksgivings, they're giving away turkeys and gifts. You don't usually see things like that. You got a lot of NFL and NBA players that are doing their thing. We just got to keep doing these things. One thing that is going on is getting the people who can't even afford a bus ticket or a plane ticket that are out of state and want to come home now. Everyone is doing their part man, but you just don't really hear about it.

SoundSlam: Why do you think the media doesn't talk about that? They always talk about when rappers or young black men get in trouble, but not about this.

C-Murder: I know man, that's just the way it is, I don't understand. I guess all they care about is their ratings. We're doing this all out of love; we're not trying to get on TV or nothing, so we're not out there introducing it to the media. I go into the Boys and Girls Club, things like that, and talk to the kids. We don't have the intentions of being part of that, because we were in a situation like that when we were younger and we're telling them they do have a future. You may only reach one out of the ten. We barely get in the paper, way in the back, the last page or something. All they want to do is s**t like crime or shootings, when it's not really true.

SoundSlam: Even today, I'm not going to down what the man is doing, because I appreciate his efforts, but Brad Pitt was on the front page of the website talking about what he's doing in New Orleans.

C-Murder: I saw that too. That's just the way it is, it's not the truth of it. Especially a black man, a rapper they want to see you in only one way. Really nothing that we do is anything but entertainment. When you look at a Brad Pitt or a Steven Spielberg, they're looked at as just entertainment. Then the people on TV are twisting and criticizing it, that's crazy. But all we can do is do what we do and not let them affect us and try to live positively and stay off the streets riding and selling dope. We just got to keep doing what we're doing.

SoundSlam: Let's switch this up for a minute. You got the DVD coming out in December and a CD coming out in February?

C-Murder: February of '08 you'll be able to purchase the album named Strictest Intentions. It's a real good record. The lead single will be an album called "One False Move" featuring Pimp C. It's a real good song, it's picking up and it should hit the radio in about a week. We're just moving. It's my first album in a long time, studio album. Everyone's real excited, I'm excited. I'm loving the music.

SoundSlam: Who else is going to be on the album, as far as producers and guest stars?

C-Murder: As far as guest appearances, of course I'm going to have my clique, the TRU Records clique. One of my groups called the Cut Boys, Keith Deniro, Mia X, Papoose, Pimp C, and Slim Thug. The album put together real nice man. The beats are all crunk. I got my own production team on there, my in house production team G-Deniro and Yella from Atlanta. I got Mannie Fresh on there. I don't want to reveal too much. Just check it out man.

SoundSlam: You're generally, if not the most talented, one of upper echelon MC's on No Limit. Do you feel like you got lost in the mix in the South, when you had an influential position in the South blowing up?

C-Murder: Yeah, but you know, with me being loyal and got caught up in the tidal wave. You know, its just one of those things wasn't up on the business; I was there whenever they needed me. So now, with my new album and my new label situation, I'm allowed to make a lot more choices. I have a say, to my loyal faithful fans, about what's going on in society and I'm able to make all the decisions now. This is the first time it's one hundred percent me making the decisions so this is the real C-Murder, ya heard.

SoundSlam: How did you set up this business situation? It sounds like a beautiful thing for you to have more creative control?

C-Murder: It's crucial, it's the way I should have been it the game. The situation just was not allowing me to do that. So this is one hundred percent C-Murder. I'm not letting this new thing in Hip Hop, you can do this, you can do that, my mentality is that I want to do it from the heart.

SoundSlam: Do you feel like a lot of rappers are not having that happen for them? Do you feel like a lot of rappers are holding back?

C-Murder: Man, a lot of them are man. When you stand on your own and go against the grain, when they turn in an album, the label wants them to take this out, take that out. I don't have to deal with all of that. They have to deal with all of that when they get in the booth. They have to deal with all the giants and that's what I've been doing for a minute, that's why I got my longevity in the game. I've never thought about that. I've always said what I wanted because this game is my relief therapy. When I get in that booth, I stop thinking about what they want me to say or what I cant' say.

SoundSlam: Do you think Master P being your brother helped with this?

C-Murder: Yeah definitely man. Big brother did a lot of big things and I sat and learned lots of things about things like that. With the things he had and the things I became affiliated with when it came time for me to do my thing it was dope. It was much easier for me.

SoundSlam: You're bringing Mia-X back; she hasn't been in the game for a minute.

C-Murder: With Mia, that's like my sister to me. You can count on me with that still going. I reached out to her, it's all good. She came down to the city, I really love the song that we did together.

SoundSlam: With the way Hip Hop is now, do you feel changes in the industry are leading to better music or worse music?

C-Murder: I think that all the other rappers are listening to everything that's going on and it affects them when they get in the booth, it leaks into their music. It's crucial right now that the ones that stay in there with longevity they go in their music and give one hundred percent in their songs. You got downloads and stuff now, the best go in with their rap name and start more adventurous ventures.

SoundSlam: What are your hopes and dreams for TRU Records?

C-Murder: Man, as far as TRU Records, I already have the vision in my head, so I know it's going happen. That's just type of person I am, I have that Spartan mentality...I'm looking at Rocafella, I'm looking at G-Unit, I'm looking at Puffy with Bad Boy, I'm looking at the majors. I am looking at TRU being a household name and a conglomerate. You're going to see a lot of things. There's going to be TRU clothing, I already got TRU sneakers, I'm waiting for that to get through customs. We want to be a major jeweler, we're going to have TRU watches. We're just trying to do it, we're taking it step by step. We know where we heading, we're headed to the top.

SoundSlam: You mentioned that you're working with Mannie Fresh on the album. You gave a shout out to Lil Wayne and Baby. That's a beautiful thing. I always wanted to hear you over Mannie Fresh, but it seemed liked there was a little tension there.

C-Murder: There was never any tension with me and Fresh from day one, even with the thing with No Limit and Cash Money. I always thought he was a nice guy. I'm in the city a lot, so I always see his guys in the street. We always had a good relationship no matter what the media might write in the paper or what someone was saying. Me and BG are actually on the album too, actually on the track that Mannie did.

SoundSlam: Do you feel refreshed; do you feel like you have a lot to say?

C-Murder: When I got that Mannie Fresh track, I didn't want it to be something everyone would say. I wanted it to be a Fresh track and get on the highest level. It's not all about me. It's a Mannie Fresh track and that means a lot to me. I wanted to show you how we do it. I'm not going to go out there and make some nonsense. I wanted to put Mannie Fresh in the house and do it how I do it. I think it's something a lot of people want to hear.