This week I did an interview about The Carter with a French music magazine. Below you’ll find the entire transcript of the email exchange. I’ll be posting this and all other interviews I do henceforth, both for archival purposes and to provide some insight into the making of The Carter.

On 1/6/10 4:57 PM, “Jean-Baptiste Vieille”  wrote:

Hi,

My name is Jean-Baptiste Vieille, I am a writer in France for a music magazine called TSUGI (www.tsugi.fr <http://www.tsugi.fr> ).

I am currently working on a story about Lil Wayne and, as you got the chance to follow him closely during the making of The Carter documentary, I would like to ask you questions about him, his status and his creative process.

Would you be interested in answering my questions over the phone or via e-mail ?

Feel free to contact me if you need any other informations about this article and the magazine I write for. I hope you will be interested by this interview.

And I want to send you my congratulations for the quality of the documentary, which is a fascinating and incredibly in-depth experience about such a one-of-a-kind artist.

Thanks,

Jean-Baptiste Vieille

Freelance writer

Tsugi / www.abcdrduson.com <http://www.abcdrduson.com>

Paris, France

Date: Sat, 9 Jan 2010 12:11:32 -0500

Subject: Re: Interview Request about Lil Wayne (french magazine)

Sure thing. Send me the questions via email if you can.

Adam

On 1/10/10 4:52 PM, “Jean-Baptiste Vieille” wrote:

Mr Lough,

As promised, here are my questions for this interview about Lil Wayne :

- At first, What made you want to direct a documentary about Lil Wayne?

To answer this question I have to give you a little history, going back to high school. I first became aware of a rap scene in New Orleans during my Junior year of high school (1995). I grew up in Virginia and worked at a record store called Record Town in Tysons Corner Mall, 5 miles outside of Washington, DC. Southern rap was not at all popular in America and with the “East Coast / West Coast” rivalry in full effect everything on the radio was either Bad Boy or Death Row. But in VA they started playing this song Im Bout It Bout It on the radio by a New Orleans rapper named Master P. The song blew up around my way and soon we started selling a direct-to-VHS movie called Im Bout It Bout It at the Record Town where I worked. When I first saw the film I thought it was the worst movie ever made. That’s not an exaggeration. It was a cross between 70’s Blaxploitation cinema in the vein of Sweet Sweetback’s Badass Song mixed with the worst 80’s hip hop films like Run DMC’s Tougher than Leather mixed with New Jack City, shot on no budget on location somewhere in New Orleans. But the film blew up and put New Orleans and No Limit Records on the map – at least in Virginia - and now I consider it to be a cult-classic.

Meanwhile I began to hear of a rival crew in New Orleans called Cash Money Records that was apparently blowing up as well and it really only takes 2 big labels to blow up an entire city, especially one as small as New Orleans. So with Cash Money and No Limit cooking, by ‘96 N.O. was definitely on the map. Around a year later there was some hype around a new MC named Juvenile whose first full length album was being released by Cash Money in a few months. The first time I heard Juvenile, I believe it was the song Soulja Rag, I was literally blown away by his style and the timbre of his voice. I know that sounds odd but I really pay attention to how someone’s voice sounds more than even their lyrical content. His voice was incredibly unique and stuck out in a sea of New York/New Jersey and Southern Cali rappers that dominated the airwaves throughout the 90’s. At that point I began to seek out everything Juvenile had done and follow his career very closely. His second album on Cash Money broke through the regional radio barrier and not only got play on major radio stations nationwide but was critically acclaimed as well. Thanks in a large part to Mannie Fresh’s amazing production that blended the classic Booty Bounce sound popularized by Luke and the 2 Live Crew with machine gun hi-hats and Electro, almost everything released by Cash Money Records was solid fucking gold. And around 1998 they completely changed the game and set the benchmark with their first release by the “super-group” Hot Boys. Hot Boys included Juvenile, Turk, BG and Lil Wayne, the so-called “baby of the group.” Unlike the recent 90’s trend of pubescent MC’s wearing their clothes backwards and rapping about meeting girls on the playground Lil Wayne was rapping some hardcore gangster shit. Talking about dealing drugs and packing guns. But at that time his lyrics were one-note and his voice was hardly developed and he was totally overshadowed by Juvenile and BG. He almost seemed like an afterthought, the kind of rap group member who would disappear after the group disbanded and maybe drop one or two solo albums then fade away into oblivion or wherever rappers go when they retire. At the time of Hot Boys’ first release Get it How U Live, I had no idea how big Wayne would become 10 years later. I don’t think anyone did. But in the span of that 10 years he worked ten times harder than any other rapper in the game to hone his skills and become the best rapper alive. And it happened. I think also the fact that he stayed with Baby and Slim while Juvenile and BG split apart to go their own ways helped Wayne tremendously. They allowed him time and space to develop as an artist. More importantly he stayed out of prison.

So from ‘98 to ‘08 Wayne put in work, quietly while nobody was watching, to become the greatest rapper alive. And at that point QD3 was already developing this idea of documenting him. They approached me about directing it and given my prior history as a fan of New Orleans rap music, I jumped at the chance.

- To you, what sets Lil Wayne apart from his peers ?

Just about everything. He truly has no equal. But maybe my viewpoint is a bit skewed as I’ve not had a chance to spend a year documenting the lives of other popular rappers that might be considered on his level. Regardless, from my biased vantage point I think the most obvious difference between Wayne and his peers is his work ethic and his artistic process. He works around the clock and through a series of circumstances both in and out of his control he has been placed into a situation where all he really has to worry about is making the next song. Creating the next piece of art. What I mean by that is everything, literally everything is being provided for him. Food, clothing, shelter, entertainment, all the necessities of life are totally handled by the support group he’s built up around him so there’s nothing stopping him from working around the clock and that’s exactly the situation that he, and the people around him, want him to be in for as long as it takes to make a billion dollars or for him to totally crash and burn. Now most artists have to constantly worry about things like paying bills, finding good weed, going out and getting food – even if it’s driving to McDonald’s. Wayne doesn’t do that. He has a full time chef on staff and when the chef isn’t around he has a team of assistants to go out and get what he wants and bring it back to the bus, or the studio or the condo or wherever he’s at. He doesn’t even need to shop for clothes because clothing and shoes and belts and hats just get sent to him. For free. All his time is dedicated to making music. And now I understand why he has the words “I Am Music” tatted on his face.

Secondly his artistic process is unique from his peers in that he does not write down lyrics, he comes up with them off the top of his head and lays them down in digital files from a mic to a computer, line by line. This is not a freestyle in the old fashioned sense but something quite new and different. It’s the future of rap basically. He understands the technology so well that he’s created this new way of rhyming and recording lyrics. He records a thought and then stops, listens to that thought played back over and over again and then records a second thought that may or may not relate to the first in a conscious way (but certainly does in an unconscious one). The process repeats itself until he finishes the song. That’s why his best songs sound like stream-of-consciousness poems. It’s this unique process that totally sets him apart from his peers who are still writing and composing songs with the structure of old fashioned rap – 16 bars, a hook, 16 bars, a hook, etc. Not to say he doesn’t still do the traditional method, but his best songs are ones without any structure where he really gets into a zone in the booth and makes bizarre mental connections between random things like sex, guns, drugs and Ice Road Truckers (it’s a terrible US reality-TV show).

Thirdly, Wayne has been rhyming since the age of 8 and has been famous since 12 or 13. He started touring Nationwide at the age of 14 and hasn’t stopped. So he’s been doing this rap shit full time for about 14 or 15 years now. He’s not an overnight success. A lot of people don’t realize that he’s not some new artist, created by a record label to fit into a niche. He’s a seasoned industry vet at 28 years of age and every musician should be studying and observing him if they want to get better at making music and navigating the industry.

- What was the most surprising thing you learnt about him while making this movie ?

Probably what most surprised me was that Wayne doesn’t hang out at clubs all night drinking expensive champagne and chasing expensive women. In fact the only time we ended up at a club was the night The Carter 3 sold 1 million. They rented out the Lucky Strike in Hollywood for him and he didn’t even show up. He was on the bus recording A Milli Sold. Baby, Slim, everyone was there except Wayne. That shocked me.

- Lil Wayne went from being a Cash Money rookie to a global superstar, and now he plans to reinvent himself with a (supposedly) rock album. How do you look at his evolution ?

I look at it similar to Bob Dylan moving from acoustic folk to electric rock. Bob Dylan fans over 50 are going to laugh at that but fuck ‘em. He’s bored with what he’s doing. He’s done with it. He’s been done with it. Plus, genres are all converging anyway so this is just a progression. Pretty soon genres wont exist at all. If you’re an artist you gotta be able to do everything. Wayne is at the forefront of that development. Lil B is coming up under him. Lil B is the direct effect of Wayne’s influence on music and popular culture. Lil B does every style. It’s all mashed up these days. There are no rules. It’s scary and overwhelming but yet incredibly liberating and wonderful to watch this happen. But back to Bob Dylan and Wayne when I first signed on to this project in December of 2007 I heard about Wayne performing a show in NYC and pulling out an electric guitar and jamming out on stage. When I heard that I really knew something interesting was happening.

- People, especially his manager, seemed to have been very candid with you during the filming. And the intimacy you had with Wayne is pretty impressive. Why, in your opinion, did he end up withdrawing his support of the project ?

I don’t know if he personally withdrew his support or his “team” did it for him. I am not privy to that information. I’m kept in the dark. What I was told is that he loved the film. When they screened the film for him he was jumping up and down in his trailer, laughing and rapping along. I’ve even been told by friends affiliated with Young Money that he keeps the film on loop on his bus. That he screens it for close friends and peers. So I’m going to opine that his “handlers” thought it best to “withdraw his support.”

- In the beginning of the movie, we learn that Wayne didn’t grant you any formal interview during the filming. If you had the chance to sit down with him now, what questions would you ask him?

I always wanted to ask him how he stays so fit. I never saw him do a push up or a lift a weight but still he manages to stay in shape. I always wondered how he managed to keep fit.

- The Rebirth project seems very chaotic until now, with all those leaks and delays. What memories do you have from the recording sessions you got to witness ?

I witnessed some amazing songs being made and he played us some real gems. I watched him make a half dozen songs for Rebirth. None of them are on the album. They were all terrific. I have no doubt the record label is going to fuck this album up. I also have no doubt there will be 800 unreleased songs that no one will ever hear. Probably 100 of those will be amazing. Wayne doesn’t choose which songs go on the album. If he did, the album would be 6 hours long probably. And it would be pure genius. It’s a shame but the politics of the record industry will probably sabotage that album. Seems like they already are…

- From your perspective, did you see a difference in Lil Wayne before and after the release of “The Carter 3” ?

More like I saw a major difference between Wayne before The Carter 3 and around the Grammy’s. Right around the time of the Katie Couric interview. After the Grammy’s his style switched up a lot. But I was watching him on TV, not with him in person at this point. So my vantage point was not a very truthful one. But his public image certainly changed a lot. He went from being a New Orleans Gangster Rapper for lack of a better term to being a teen-marketed Rock star. It was weird because some of the gangster in him was still there but it had been washed over a bit. I think his “team’s” withdrawal of support over The Carter was a direct effect of this change. Let’s be real if this was 1992 and I made a movie like The Carter about Pac, Ice Cube or Eazy E there would be no problem. But that was when rappers had to Keep it Real or else get chewed up and spit out. But that’s the generation I came up in. These guys taught me to Keep it Real. Pac taught me that and that’s part of the reason I make movies like The Carter. But Keepin’ it Real doesn’t exist in this youth market anymore. It’s looked at as old fashioned and silly. Being a gangster isn’t cool anymore. These new dudes wear tight jeans and get their drugs from CVS. I love it and I respect it but it’s not my generation.

- The movie ends on a shot on the word “Misunderstood” tattooed near his forehead. At this point, What would be the biggest public misconception about Lil Wayne ?

The movie ends on a sad note. We juxtapose the image of Lil Wayne milling about with Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and the Jonas Brothers with the image of the tattoo “Misunderstood” branded to his face so that everyone can see how he feels about himself at this moment in his life. The scene says more than I could write in words about how or why Lil Wayne is misunderstood.

- Wayne’s daily use of Styrofoam syrup is an element that you chose to question in the movie. Do you have concerns about it ? Do you feel like Wayne could end up like those other pop icons who died young ?

No comment.

- From all that you have seen from him, is there a particular moment or detail that would perfectly sum him up ?

I think the perfect moment is in the film, when he performs 30 Minutes to New Orleans for the camera. He’s on his bus, watching the NBA Playoffs (his favorite team, the Lakers) getting tattooed, smoking a blunt, sipping a cup and listening to his own music. I’ve never seen anyone more in their element than in that moment. If I could show him that scene 30 years from now he’d probably agree with that assessment. That moment in time perfectly sums up Lil Wayne.

Thanks a lot from your answers. If there anything you want to add up about this project and Lil Wayne, it will be more than welcome.

Check out http://www.adambhalalough.com for info about the upcoming release of my new documentary THE UPSETTER: The Life & Music of Lee “Scratch” Perry, narrated by Benicio Del Toro, coming soon!

Best regards,
Jean-Baptiste