B.G. – Interview

Inside the world of the baby gangster B.G.!

Back in 1991, Ronald “Slim” Williams and his brother, Bryan “Baby” Williams, heard about the infamous B.G., Baby Gangsta, and soon signed him to their new Cash Money label. As Slim likes to tell it, “BG is the first artist we had. We’ve been raising him up since he was young.”

B.G. began as a local sensation, only to get national recognition from the single “Bling, Bling” at the unbelievable age of twelve.

B.G. talks about his past. “1992, that’s when I recorded my first album for Cash Money, True Stories. I was only twelve and all I just wanted to get into the rap game heavy.” He adds, “I lost my daddy when I was thirteen from a gunshot wound to the head. All I got is my mama and little brother. I just did what I had to do and I got a shot at the rap thing and now I’m going all out with it.”

Before he was a Cash Money Millionaire, B.G. was just a kid living the life on the mean streets in New Orleans. The now twenty-year-old B.G. (Christopher Dorsey) has learned a lot in eight years of being an MC. His next releases, Chopper City (1996), It’s All On You Volumes I (1997) and II (1998), sold over five hundred thousand units throughout the South by word-of-mouth alone. In 1999, Cash Money and Universal Records combined their assets and released B.G.’s fifth album, Chopper City In The Ghetto, which yielded the #1 hit song “Bling, Bling” and went platinum.

B.G. has had trouble in the past. He served time and doesn’t look forward to doing that again any time soon. “I have to take piss tests every week for my probation officer. It been pissing me off because I have to fly in and out of town every Sunday night because I’ve got to be there every Monday morning.” It was the Cash Money founders who have helped B.G. to leave the gangster life behind. “Baby and Slim really got it in my head and influenced me to come out of the ghetto and stop running with the crew I was running with, stealing cars and jeopardizing my freedom. They told me I had talent and to use it,” says B.G. “I’m confident I’m going to be me.”

B.G. then joined the all-star crew Hot Boys, consisting of label mates Juvenile, Lil Wayne, and Turk. The crew released Get It How You Live (1997) and Guerrilla Warfare (1999). In 2000, the Hot Boys won the Source Award for Group Of The Year.

Check Mate is the latest release from the prolific B.G. “I wrote thirty songs and picked sixteen. I could have left all thirty on there because they all singles.” It’s a return to his roots getting down and dirty. It shows you where B.G. got the nickname Baby Gangsta. B.G. adds “I went back to the streets for the beats of straight up thuggin’.” Check Mate isn’t all negative. There are tracks of hope like “Change The World” and “To My People”.

Juvenile gives us his take on Check Mate. “This is the most creative album he’s ever done. He pulled out some tricks on this one.”

B.G. says of the title Check Mate, “Life is like a game of chess. Every move you make has a consequence. If you make the right moves, you’ll make it, but if you make the wrong moves, you get a check mate and you could lose.” He adds, “The title of the album speaks for itself. Check Mate, you know what I’m saying, you got to lay it down, whether it’s on the streets or front of the judge, you got to, pow, lay it down.”

“It’s just like on the streets, if you’re caught slipping, you’re gonna be checkmate”.

+ charlie craine