G. Malone

Artist: Glasses Malone
Title: Certified ft. Akon
Label: Blu Division/Hoo-Bangin'/Cash Money Records
Album: Beach Cruiser
Producer: DJ Toomp
Artist Website: Glasses Malone
Featuring: Akon, DJ Toomp,





Glasses Malone ft. Akon - Certified

Contributed by M. Burmy

Listen to More: Street, Westcoast, Collaborations

Over the past three years several new artists have tried to bring SoCal back into Hip Hop’s limelight. Yet, with the exception of The Game, none have been very successful. Hoping to buck that trend is Watts native, Glasses Malone, who signed a joint deal with Cash Money and Mack-10’s Hoo-Bangin’ Records. On his first single, Malone describes his heavy street credibility by bragging that he’s Certified everywhere in the hood. While Glasses’ flow is very addictive, the true hit maker is producer DJ Toomp, who cooks up a synth-heavy beat “in the kitchen.” Add an addictive hook from Akon and Certified should receive massive radio play nationwide. Malone will try to prove if he can bring the West back when his debut, Beach Cruiser, drops sometime in ‘08.
- M. BURMY

DXNext G. Malone
October 25th, 2007 | Author: Jake Paine1 | 2 | 3 | View All Pages
G. Malone has been looking for the perfect deal since about 2004. A onetime affiliate of Black Wall Street, Glasses, as he’s also referred to, took a seven-figure deal with Sony at a time when The Game was winning, and each major scrambled for California talent to follow suit.
That was then. Nearly two years later, G. Malone, with some help, returned much of his stipend to Sony, walking away with his half-completed Beach Cruiser album. Now affiliated with Cash Money Records in a deal brokered by Mack 10, the Eastside emcee is already getting spins of his official first single “Certified.” Here, DXNext gets opinion from Malone on underground love, the importance of unity, and how respect is just as good a commodity in the industry as money.
HipHopDX: Tell me how your career or the timeframe of releasing your album has been different since Cash Money Records has gotten involved…
G. Malone: It’s a lot better. If you see somebody who understands what you’re doing and can bring to the table and match your energy. My records are getting really big out here, getting all day spins in L.A. and San Diego. I think in terms of breaking the record in the south, because it’s a completely different look, it will make that step easier too.
DX: A year ago, your situation did not even include Mack 10. Walk us through the last year, since leaving Sony. Since you’re with Cash Money now, are you with Universal?
GM: Exactly. What happened [with Sony] was the people that signed me left. That was all the confirmation I needed.
DX: You had a blockbuster, seven-figure deal. Was it hard to get out of there?
GM: What happened, really, was that’s what took so long for me to get out of the situation, because of the deal I got, because of the size of the advance I got, because of the type of budget I had, because of all that. They weren’t gonna let somebody go, who they had invested so much money in. I had half of my record paid for. There was so much money as a stipend that I had to pay it. It was hard to get out, once I knew the situation was going bad. We had to go through a lot. Shout out to Chilly, that’s the dude who runs Lupe [Fiasco’s] whole [1st & 15th] camp, got locked up, Big Chuck of Drama Family and K.P., an executive over there at Sony. [With their help], I was able to maneuver my way out. It was a situation between Akon and Mack 10, and I just kept it west coast. Akon is my partner, so whatever he needs…I’ll kill a nigga for Akon, he’s just that type of guy. Like I said, it took a minute, but as soon as I got out of the situation, I got a half-done [album] with Akon, Wyclef [Jean], all kind of people. It was never a problem. Mack 10 really brokered it. Once I got out, he made the situation really smooth for me as to whatever I was going to get in.
DX: You mentioned a huge budget at Sony. The half-done record, we’re never going to hear, correct?
GM: Nah. The thing about Sony…a lot of people talk shit about Sony, but I’m not. Lil Flip got to leave with his material and I got to leave with mine. So I’ve got the same material, plus Cash Money has allowed me to do even more, which is stepping it up to a whole ‘nother level. It’s an awesome project. You’re gonna hear everything that I’ve been working on. You’ll hear what’s taken me a year and a half for making great records, great music for everybody. You got the whole thing. Sony let me walk away with my whole masters. It was in exchange for a lot of the stipend, but I’m not in the hole with ‘em at all, so it’s actually worked out really good for me.
DX: When people saw you associated with that budget, I’m sure it was no problem charging you heavy. But so much of Hip Hop, as Lil Wayne and Akon know all-too-well, is about favors for favors. Having been exposed to both ways of doing business, which do you prefer?
GM: It’s a little bit of both. When you can walk up to somebody and say, “Money’s not an issue,” of course, you’ll get whatever you fuckin’ want to get. That’s the perk of having a situation where the money is that big. Secondly, when you sign to a label like Cash Money and people know Lil Wayne, and you’ve got Baby, Slim and Mack 10 pushing you, everybody wants to just get down anyway. To be honest, from stepping to a have-money situation to more of a respect situation, I’d go with the respect. It’s going from having all the money you need to people respecting what you’re a part of; it’s the same thing, really. Some artists wanted money, some didn’t. When I was with Sony, it was all good. And while I’m with Cash Money, it’s been all good. Baby and them ain’t strange with the change. They’re gonna get whatever I want them to get, and do whatever I want them to do. They love that shit.
DX: Mack 10 never said anything bad about Cash Money. But many critics looked at his only release with them, 2001’s Bang or Ball, as a flop, considering the publicity he received signing - HIPHOPDX.COM

Glasses Malone: Million Dollar Baller
Published Monday, October 23, 2006 10:00 PM
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Chris “Milan” Thomas
If New York Hip-Hop is dead, L.A. rap has decomposed. The Game not withstanding, most fans are likely to draw blanks if asked to name one of the new MCs to hail from the left coast. But as the year winds down—and new blood like Saigon and Papoose look to put New York back on top, an icon-in-the-wings by the name of Glasses Malone seeks the same by aligning himself with Mannie Fresh, Cool and Dre and slew of other super producers.

Also known simply as G. Malone, the Watts-native made a name for himself by pushing 30,000 units on the independent circuit. A bidding war ensued, and offers from Interscope, Black Wall Street—and even Jay-Z—were considered before he signed with Sony for $1.7 Million. Fittingly, some have labeled the one-time Crip “The West Coast Papoose.” Is he worthy of the title? Is he capable of becoming the biggest Crip in Hip-Hop since Snoop and Tha Dogg Pound? Should it matter? These are the questions. G has the answers.

AllHipHop.com: The multi-million dollar value of your record deal has been promoted fairly well in the media, and will continue to do so as your fame increases. With such exposure, do you ever feel like a marked man sometimes?

Glasses Malone: Little crazy n***as might feel different, but not me. It’s hard out here when you have n***as slinging who don’t got what you got, so I don’t even wear jewelry. I don’t like flashing on the homies; you might have them thinking you’re a dumb millionaire. When I’m in the hood, I keep it real simple. I might wear my big watch in one of them Hollywood clubs where other n***as are wearing big watches.

AllHipHop.com: How’s the album going?

Glasses Malone: It’s coming dumb fly, man. I’m working hard on every track. I really painted a perfect picture on every song and gave you me. I got all kinds of moods and tempos for the day. It’s challenging, but it’s fun.

AllHipHop.com: What kind of production can we expect to hear on it?

Glasses Malone: Everyday, I go to see n***as. I got Cool and Dre, some s**t with Mannie Fresh, DJ Toomp…Toomp is a beast. I’m finna to go finish some s**t with Just Blaze.

AllHipHop.com: It sounds like the label’s setting you to blow up big.

Glasses Malone: Absolutely. They’re setting me up to go hard because people are looking at me as a new face. Being that I didn’t come up [with an established act], I had to come up swinging right for it. [Sony’s] definitely working, they’re not playing around.

AllHipHop.com: Would you say that was the reason why you went with Sony? Would you say they would have supported you better than, say, a different label would have supported you at this point?

Glasses Malone: Besides that, it was a better deal and they really respected the fact that I wanted to do my own thing. A lot of labels were nervous because the West Coast ain’t really ever had a successful artist since the Dre regime began. [They never had] an artist hit without messing with Dre or getting beats from Dre. A lot of people were like, “You sure you don’t want to do the deal with Game?” or “Dre says good things about you, you sure you don’t want to get a beat from him on your first record?” I’m like, “No. I just want to do me.” Sony is just more supportive. They got a real bad rap on them and stuff, but if you sell 800,000 records on Sony, that’s like selling two or three million records on Interscope. You sell a punk-ass platinum plaque on Interscope, it’s like, whatever.

AllHipHop.com: What’s up with that animosity towards Interscope? I heard that you were linked with Black Wall Street at one point, and—I’m guessing—it didn’t work out the way you wanted. Is that right?

Glasses Malone: Nah. Interscope is my family. They’re the reason why I am the way I am today. That’s where I picked up a lot about the Game too. The only thing with Interscope is, if you’re not in Eminem, 50 or Dre’s lane, you’re kinda just there. Eventually, they’re gonna start breaking artists without all that stuff; I just didn’t want to be the first one to try.

The Black Wall Street deal was a little different. It just wasn’t financially set. It just wasn’t for me. It was for a real base-rate artist and it kind of had nothing going for itself. At that time, I had a seven-label bidding war so financially, it wasn’t even right. I got a family; I got a mom that got 20 years in prison. I’m trying to keep my little brother out of trouble…[With Game,] it was always blessings to do what I did.

AllHipHop.com: Do you see yourself collaborating with Game at some point?

Glasses Malone: I mean, eventually. We talk sometimes, like once a month. He done gave me advice since I went my own way. There ain’t no hate with dude. I think a lot of that s**t had to do with “Press and Pause.” People were just assuming [there was beef between us - Allhiphop.com

Glasses Malone: What U See Is What U Get
Published Friday, November 30,



By Latifah Muhammad
The West Coast is about more than just gangbanging and the occasional Dr. Dre produced single. Just ask rapper Glasses Malone. The Cali rapper’s story may have begun like many young men who come from his neighborhood, but he’s taking his life lessons and following them in a new direction.

Malone split his time growing up between Watts and Compton, where joining a gang and hustling in the streets was an unspoken prerequisite for respect. While his environment prepared him for the sometimes cut-throat music industry it also instilled in him a business mentality. Grinding through his neighborhood, he sold his records hand to hand gaining notoriety and ultimately getting a $1.7 million deal with Sony Records in 2006. Due to changes with the label that deal eventually fell through, turning Malone into a free agent. Yet just one week later he and his Blu Division label were under a new contract with Hoo Bangin/Cash Money/Universal records through which his debut Beach Cruiser will be released.

Proudly claiming the West Coast in his lyrics and mantra, Malone is trying to add a new branch to the tree rooted in region’s rap culture. He spoke with AllHipHop.com about how he plans to change the game for West Coast music, his mother’s 25 year jail sentence and why it’s important to give back.


AllHipHop.com: You want to change the perception that people have about people that come out of Compton or Watts (the gang banging mentality). How are you going to do that?

Glasses Malone: I try to go a lot deeper with my art than the average person. Maybe not about bars or lyrics but projects as a whole; I really work on that a lot. Not to mention the different views I share compared to a lot of people that may do a lot of music. As far as gangbanging, the position I take with drinking and smoking and doing drugs over all. I think my albums really expressed a different person than the average person out here.

AllHipHop.com: Why did you get out of gang banging?

Glasses Malone: You just get older and you’re just tired of it. It’s just something that you don’t do. It’s not hard to get out of gang banging, it just like “Do you really want to get out of it?” If you’re a real man, people aren’t going to give you a hard time. They’re going to let you do what you want to do.

AllHipHop.com: A lot of rappers in Southern California portray that gang-banger mentality though, how are you working to take West Coast rap into a new direction?

Glasses Malone: You can’t take that away from West Coast rapping, because that is West Coast culture. That’s Los Angeles, not even West Coast. Not the Bay, Portland, or Seattle or none of the other places on the West Coast. That’s L.A. culture. You can’t wake up one day and say “You shouldn’t gang bang.” That’s not legit. That’s not going to happen. What I do typically is I put a lot of Bloods and Crips together. That’s not on purpose, that’s just because that’s how my life is. Not to mention when I do shows in Los Angeles, a lot of time I get more Bloods at my shows then I get Crips.

AllHipHop.com: You get in the studio a lot and basically record when it feels good, how did you put it all together to make a cohesive album?

Glasses Malone: It took me a second. I had an idea of what I wanted to do with this album. I wanted to make a story. I knew when I did my four album deal I wanted to make all four albums connected—more than just titles but material. It was like putting together a movie. You write what you want to talk about through the whole movie then you start coming up with the scenes for it. The songs are the scenes for me. When I was putting together songs the first three or four I might have nailed perfectly, but after that I couldn’t nail one. It took me four months to get another song that was going to fit. I’m very satisfied with it; I’m just making sure the transitions are real seamless.

AllHipHop.com: What’s behind the title Beach Cruiser?

Glasses Malone: It was a metaphor. It represented the West Coast. It represented my flow, everybody says that I have the “Beach Cruiser” flow because it’s real smooth and steady. I can rap on anything and just be me on the track and not change. It represents the West Coast and also how classic a Beach Cruiser is. I want my music to be as timeless as a Beach Cruiser.

AllHipHop.com: How do you plan to create a new legacy in West Coast music?

Glasses Malone: The challenge in itself is trying to earn a plaque without [Dr.] Dre’s involvement doing Gangster rap. Even if it’s not Dre it has something to do with the N.W.A. tree. I think trying to be successful without Dre pushing your project from the West Coast in gangster rap is like a legacy in itself.

AllHipHop.com: On a personal level, I know that your mother is currently serving a 25 year sentence for narcotics, do you correspond with her?

Glasses M - Allhiphop.com