Look At Me Now

Charlamagne Tha God doesn’t give a damn what anyone thinks of him. If he did, he wouldn’t be where he is right now. Charlamagne has preserved through the pitfalls of the entertainment industry, and now sits next to the Queen of All Media, Wendy Williams, in the #1 market in the country, New York City. He went from being ousted from Charleston, SC airwaves to being backstabbed by the powers that be at Columbia, SC’s radio station Hot 103.9. If you thought that was the end for the Architect of Aggravation you would have been dead wrong. Look at him now, he’s the co-host of the Wendy Williams Experience. Not bad for a dude from the dirty roads of Moncks Corner, South Carolina. Charlamagne sat down with the Carolina King of Publications to tell the world how he went from SC to NY, why he can’t wait to interview D4L and Dem Franchise Boyz, and why he’ll rep SC ‘til the day he dies.

The last time I interviewed you, you told me that you knew you were one of the best on-air personalities in the country.
Yes son, I did.

You knew your day was coming.
Yeah.

How did you hook up with Wendy Williams?
Her husband, Kevin Hunter, who’s her manager and also my manager, you know he’s been scouting me for a while. But you know we hooked up on a personal level, as men first. We were cool. He used to come down and I used to show them a lot of love. Drink, smoke, go to the strip club, whatever you know what dudes do. So he came down one weekend, and we were hanging out and he was like “yo, I want you to come to New York.” He wanted Frosty to come DJ one of their parties, it was actually one of Wendy’s champagne release parties because you know she got that joint Georges Vesselle champagne. I was like, “Sure why not.” And it just so happened here [WHXT Hot 103.9] cut me coming on everyday, Monday thru Friday. Telling me, I was a liability and a risk, so they didn’t want the direction of the night show to go with me. They cut me from [WHXT Hot 103.9] which I wasn’t sweating because I always know that God has a plan and I knew the corporate structure here was fed up with me anyway, for whatever reason. So when I went up [to New York], we were in the champagne party, and Wendy asked me to come on the show the next day. And when I went on her show, it was like magic. That was the first time I’d ever did radio with her. I was on there for like twenty minutes and it was just magic. Like the chemistry, the energy and everything was there. God was in the room. So that night, me and Kevin went out and Kev was like, “You know Wendy is looking for a co-host? She’s looking for someone to be on the show with her, and she was really digging your energy. You want to do it?” What am I supposed to say? No!? It was just like that. It was just that simple. And then we were in Puerto Rico for the Wendy Williams Experience get-away; they brought me out on stage. Me and Wendy let everyone know what it was, what it is and what it’s gon’ be. I started on, April 17th or the 18th, and that day was magic again. Came back the next day, it was magic again. Now thirty days later, the chemistry is there. New York, Philly, Connecticut and surrounding areas are feelin’ me. So it is what it is.

Right now you’re back and forth between New York and South Carolina?
Yeah, I come here every second and fourth Friday. I was going to do every week, but plane tickets cost a lot no matter what you’re making, you know what I’m sayin’. So I’mma come every second and fourth weekend just to do my show [Charlamagne Tha God’s Concrete Jungle] on Saturday night.

How long do you plan on doing that?
I mean, you know, I don’t plan on quitting it. You know what I mean, you got a lot of dudes, man, who leave South Carolina and go off and do other things. And they get so wrapped up wherever they’re at that they forget about the state. And I mean, that’s the reason South Carolina has never gotten to where it needs to be in the industry, because of that. I just feel like it’s my duty to keep coming back. You know what I’m sayin’, just to let people know that I am South Carolina. This is where I’m from. You know what I mean, there is a lot of talent here. I’m just one, and I’m not even on the rap tip. I’m a radio personality, there is a lot of talent here—whether it’s you with your magazine, whether it’s rappers, whether it’s DJs, whether it’s the personalities, whether it’s the promoters, models, whatever you want we got it right here. So I feel like with me coming back and forth, I think people will start to recognize that and realize that.

In South Carolina, you’ve been a successful radio personality, you were instrumental in getting Infinity Tha Ghetto Child signed to MCA and now you’re co-hosting with Wendy Williams. Do you ever feel under appreciated in this state?
To be totally honest, I don’t even care. And the main reason that I don’t care is because, you know, my reward comes from God. You know, my reward can’t come from people, you know what I’m sayin’. Like I don’t want people to praise me. Don’t praise me. I don’t need praise from people. For what? Because the people ain’t gon’ never appreciate you. Because people are just naturally jealous, naturally envious, you know what I’m sayin’. You got to be a strong man or a strong woman not to care about other person’s situation. Like to really, truly root for another person’s situation and to know that eventually your blessing is going to come too. I always tell people man, it’s like God is your father and we’re all God’s children. And when Christmas time comes we’re all under this one tree. But you got millions and billions of people all across the planet, but everybody got a gift. You just got to keep searching until you find your gift. You know, I was just blessed enough to find my gift...I’m not even going to say early because this ain’t no overnight thing. I’ve been grinding for a minute. Anyone that knows me, knows I’ve been grinding for a minute. I’ve been doing radio since ’99. And that’s just the radio grind. I ain’t even talking about the grind in the streets trying to do something positive, when I was just out there running around Moncks Corner and Charleston doing a bunch of negative B.S. So this ain’t no overnight thing. I had to find myself, and after I found myself I found my gift. I could care less if people praise me or whatever or give me respect. I don’t feel under appreciated at all.

I know that you interviewed Farrakhan. How was that experience?
Aw man, that’s like the story in the Bible where the lady was sick and she said all she wanted to do was touch the hem of Jesus. All she had to do was touch his hem and she knew that she would have been healed. And you know, when I sat down with him, that’s how I felt. I felt like I was touching a messiah, you know what I’m sayin’. And just him sitting down and telling me that I was more than I appeared to be to other people. And him telling me that I was a blessing to hip-hop and telling me that he wants to give all the wisdom that God has gave to him to me, keep in contact with me after that. Making sure I’m on the righteous path. That meant a lot. In the long run I think that’s my ultimate calling. To be with Minister Farrakhan. To be what a Malcolm X was. That’s why I feel I have the gift of communication. The gift of gab to touch people with words. To reach the poor. I feel like I got that gift. To be that mouth piece of the gutter, you know what I mean. To speak for the people that aren’t being heard. So in the long run I think that’s my ultimate goal.

How do you stay humble and not forget where you came from?
If you truly come from that how can you forget that. That’s one thing I don’t understand about people. Like how do you get to where you’re supposed to be, or not even get to where you’re supposed to be, but get to a different position and forget about your people? The people that made you. I always tell people as far as radio is concerned, Charleston created me, Columbia made me. I always say that because I did my thing in Charleston, but I was a virgin to the game, you know what I mean. I give utmost respect to Z93, not really the station, but I can’t really say the people there. Because the people that ushered me into the game aren’t there no more. Like Ron Splackavellie. Ron Splackavellie is the first person that said, “Do you want to be on the air?” Cause I expressed interest to be on the air to him and had just said it in passing. But I remember like a week later he was like, “You still want to be on the air?” I was like, “Hell yeah.” So he gave me my first shot at being on the air. [Z93 Jamz program director] Terry Base didn’t want me on the air. When Terry Base first met me he was like, “Man, he’s too ghetto. I don’t quite understand his style.” But when I started to pop at Z93, cause I was doing weekends and filling in, and like I started going on remotes. People wanted me to come host their parties. And Terry Base kinda put a halt to that. I remember him putting me on liners. I remember him saying no more talking, I’m putting you on strict liners from now on. I remember that to this day.

What are liners?
Liners are...Hot 103.9 now blazing you with more hip-hop and R&B with eighteen in a row. This is Nelly with “Grillz” on Hot 103.9. That’s it. No fly shit. No country acting...none of that. He shut all that down. I remember that like it was yesterday.

What do you think about Wendy Williams?
She’s been in the game for twenty years, twenty plus years. And she’s constantly had to recreate herself, man. And constantly had to go through so many adversities. And she’s a black woman. You got to read her first book, Wendy Williams Brings the Heat. She had two miscarriages and I’m talking about she was five months pregnant both times. People front on her the same way they front on me here, as far as radio is concerned. And she constantly had to fight through that, and constantly keep pushing man and right now she’s on the top of her game right now. That’s unprecedented for someone to go to New York, be #1 in their time slot, get booted out of New York, go someplace like Philadelphia, be #1 there, come back to New York on a station that wasn’t hitting on nothing and turn them into a franchise. And she’s #1 again. She got the book coming out. We’re shooting the TV show right now, the Wendy William Experience reality show. So everything you hear us doing in the studio, you’re going to see on TV. So it’s crazy man. Like she’s a testament to me. She’s a testament to the game. She’s an icon. She’s what you want to stride to be and stride to do. You gotta learn how to shatter that glass ceiling. The way you shatter that glass ceiling is by not limiting yourself to one hustle. Constantly recreating yourself, making yourself a brand. I don’t just want to be known as Charlamagne Tha God the radio personality. I want to be known as Charlamagne Tha God, so you know everything that’s under my umbrella. You know what I mean. Wendy got champagne, she’s spokesperson for Alize, she got the book, the TV show. Like she got all these other ventures and all these other things going on. It’s like, that’s what I’m getting into right now.

What have you been able to observe going from South Carolina to New York?
I’ve observed the reason that New Yorkers are faster than Southerners, especially here in South Carolina, is because they’re always constantly moving. Always hustling. It’s a lot for them to do there. More opportunities are presented to people up north than are here. Here you do the traditional things. You go to high school, go to college, get a job. Like it’s real structured here. And it’s not even a good structure. And if you don’t go to school or get a job, you’re not going to do nothing. You’re going to be sitting under a tree somewhere in Charleston crackin’ crabs and drinking liquor or working at a plant somewhere. It’s really nothing here for people to see. So if there is nothing here for people to see and you’re not a dreamer and you don’t know that there are other situations out there in other places, then you’re just going to be stagnated with what’s here.

Do you think there can be changes made around here?
Yeah, we got to bring the industry here. We got to show the people in South Carolina that they can make it other than athletics or rapping. Rapping is good. It’s a good outlet, I mean everybody’s not gonna make it. Everybody’s not going to pop. But that hip-hop industry is gonna cause a whole lot of other industries to pop up. And you got a lot of smart brothers here. And when they get money, they’re going to reinvest into their communities. They’re going to be opening up the stores and giving other black people jobs. And they’re going to increase the economic system here.

So Wendy’s setting you up for your own show, is that something that has been discussed?
Yeah it’s been discussed. But I’m going to be totally honest, it’s not something I’m looking forward to. And the reason I say I’m not looking forward to it is because I love working with Wendy. You got to understand man, what you’re seeing right now is unprecedented. You’ve never seen a radio personality, embrace another radio personality. You don’t see that too often. You don’t see nobody in a particular field embrace somebody else in that same particular field and say, “You know what this is the chosen one. This is the next dude and I want hands in that.” You don’t really see that in the rap game. You don’t see that in basketball. You don’t see that in no field. So for her to be doing what she’s doing right now is just another showing of why she is the queen...I don’t even like to say the queen of all media because she’s just the queen period, you know what I’m sayin’. She carries herself with a sense of royalty. And people that have that sense of royalty always bring up the next dude because there’s going to always be somebody after them. Her reign ain’t nowhere near over. But she’s saying, “Yo’ this is the next person to carry the torch.” I’ve been hearing a lot of people say I should take over Star’s spot. To be totally honest, I don’t want to do that right now. I’m loving where I’m at right now.

So you didn’t have interest at all of trying to take over Star’s spot?
Nah, not at this point in the game. Could I do a morning show in New York City? Yes. Would I want to do a morning show in New York City? No. Because I’d be setting myself up for failure and that’s not how you do things. You set yourself up to win. Right now I’m being ushered in by the queen. The queen is bringing me in the game, as far as radio is concerned. I’m rolling with Question Mark Entertainment with my man Kevin Hunter, which is Wendy’s husband, and he’s heavy in the streets. As far as the party promoting and all that stuff like that. So I’m being ushered in very, very well. If I’d go up to New York with my style people would hate on me straight out the gate. They be like, “Who is this little motherfucker talking all this shit?” But being that I’m rolling with Wendy and she’s cosigning, it allowed me to be me.

Let me ask you about your style. Before you interview these artists, do you go in looking to go at them or do you attack them if they slip up?
Well, there is a thing called respect. And when you’re dealing with that word called respect there are different artists that you approach different. I’m going to always ask the questions that people want to hear because I’m always of the people. I’m a fan. I’m a fan of this music like you’re a fan of the music. Like anybody out here is a fan of the music. Like there are always certain questions that always get asked in the hood. So the questions that get asked in the hood, I’m going to ask them because I’m still a fan at the end of the day and I’m still a critic at the end of the day. I’m not even going to sit here and front. Certain people I already know that when they walk through the door I’m going to get at them. Cause either I think their music is corny, I think they’re not representing the game right, I think they’re fucking up hip-hop in someway shape or form. So I already know I’m going to get at them and exposure them to the world. And there are certain people that I feel like haven’t gotten the respect they deserve and they need to be put up on a pedestal. And people need to know their story and know that they’re very good people. Case in point, Ice Cube, I’m sure Ice Cube is heavy on the West. But as far as the South, the North I don’t think Ice Cube has gotten the respect he deserves. So when he was on this week with Wendy and I, Wendy was asking him a lot of great questions. And I asked him a few questions myself. And that was a good interview man because a lot of people left that interview with a new respect for Ice Cube. Cause it’s like Cube done did a lot in the game, you know what I mean. And there are certain people that I want to get that respect, like a Ghostface. Ghostface don’t get that respect in the mainstream, but if he comes to do an interview with me, I’m going to let people know what kind of work this brother done put in.

So who do you want to get at that’s not representing the game?
You know I don’t got no problems naming names. I wouldn’t mind interviewing Dem Franchise Boyz. I wouldn’t mind interviewing D4L. I’ve interviewed Dem Franchise Boyz before, but it’s not like I really want to get at them, I just want them to really realize that what they’re doing is not a movement. What they’re doing is not going to change the game. What they’re doing is a fad. And by the time this interview comes out, it will be over. We’re outside the club right now, did you see a bunch of people leanin’ and rockin’ tonight? When the music came on did people have the same reaction?

As compared to when snap music first started?
Yeah, when all that first started? No!!! Not at all. That’s what I’m saying. I want to interview Mase to see what the fuck is on his mind. I’d like to interview 50 because I think that 50 is a very smart dude. He’s a cancer like me. So he gotta know a lot of things that we see.

You talked about D4L and Dem Franchise Boyz. Is that the reason you made “Leggo My Eggo?”
Exactly, I made “Leggo My Eggo” because I wanted to show that you can just say anything on a record and make people like it. I’m about to do the Hookie Pookie record in a minute. [Sings the Hookie Pookie]. It just bothers me. You know what the snap music is fucking up the South. And what I mean “fucking up the South” is that the snap music is getting so much attention, so much rotation it’s taking away from the artists in the South that can really rap. You got artists in the South that are dope, ridiculous, fire, audio crack when you hear them on a record. And the snap music is getting so much spins and so much radio play that up north dudes are like, “Yo’ what the fuck is this shit?” Just like down here we’re like, “Yo’ what the fuck is this shit?” And it’s taking away from the Bun Bs, the dude that can really get busy on the microphone. Chamillionaire is an emcee from Houston that can really, really get busy. And you know that “snap music” is getting so much rotation and so much play that it’s really taking away from what’s authentic.

With the Wendy Williams VH1 TV show, are you ready for the changes that are about to take place? Because at one point you weren’t trying to put your face out there right? In the public, people are going to start recognizing you.
I never had a problem with putting my face out there. To be totally honest, I’ve always been an attractive dude and the chicks have always dug me [Laughs]. And you know, I don’t really care about fame, you know what I’m sayin’. I’m just trying to be successful. And I’m trying to stack up my ones so my future generations can be successful. I just wanna put my state on the map. I want everyone from my state to be gettin’ money. I want everyone from my state to have a certain level of fame, a certain level of fortune. So as far as me being on the Wendy Williams Experience with the TV show, I really don’t even care. It is what it is.

With the position that you are in now, what kind of things can you do for the state of South Carolina?
I think just being me. Just being Charlamagne Tha God from Moncks Corner, SC. Just from me being from South Carolina, I can put South Carolina on the map cause I’m reppin’. One thing about dudes like Jermaine O’Neal, Kevin Garnett, Duce Staley, I respect everything they have done, but it’s like you wouldn’t know that they were from South Carolina if they didn’t say nothing. Wit’ me man, I’m letting people know this is me, this where I’m from. This my hood. If you want to know the reason I act the way I do and say the things I say come to my town. Come through my state.

Talk about the mixtape you did with DJ Chuck T.
Me and Chuck T came up from the sandbox, that’s my dude. He’s one of those dudes that got a hustle like mine, got a grind like mine, got a heart like mine. When I say heart like mine, I mean that he’s a very God fearing person, and means that he tries to go out his way to help people. But at the same time he don’t give a fuck about people because people have hated on us for so long that sometimes we do have those glimpses of arrogance. Those glimpses of being egotistical, those glimpses of not giving a fuck about nobody but ourselves but it’s only for a brief moment just because people have hated on us for so long. He been pushing me to do that CD. I remember one day I looked in my email and I had a CD that Hot 97 put out on Star and Buck. And [Chuck T] was like, “Come on Charlamagne.” And I was like, “You know what, Chuck you’re right. Lets do it.” I record all my shows, so I got mad tapes. So I just put it out. I put it together, we put it out and we got busy. There’s a lot of stuff not on there, that I wish I’d gotten on there like the Memphis Bleek interview. The Trey Songz interview. The interview with Minister Farrakhan. But that’s why it’s Vol. 1 because there will definitely be a Vol. 2 coming.

One interview you had on the mixtape was your Buffie the Body interview. Was that the interview that gave you a lot of publicity to spread around the internet and everything?
It gave me a lot of pub. And what’s crazy is that it gave me a lot of pub for all the wrong reasons because on September 13th, I interviewed the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. And that has been my greatest interview ever in the history of my life. Minister Farrakhan dropped jewels. The average motherfucker don’t get to interview Farrakhan. I got the chance to interview Farrakhan and it was a blessing. And I don’t know why that Buffie interview got more pub than Farrakhan. I know why, because this world focuses more on wrong than right. More on evil than good. So it was what it was and it put me in a lot of people faces, and it put me on a radar of a lot of people’s radar that I wasn’t on yet.

So you are in the #1 market now and Hot 103.9 wanted to get rid of you. Did the program director, Chris Conners, admit that he was wrong?
Diddy just told me congratulations, that’s it.

What did you think about that?
I don’t think about that. Because at the end of the day success is the best revenge. Success is the most gratifying thing on the planet. Success will hold you over longer than you having to beat somebody’s ass. Success will hold you over longer than you having to put a gun in somebody’s mouth. I just do what I do. That’s it. Nothing else. Everyone knows what it is what Charlamagne. You can’t front on Charlamagne because you know in your heart and in your mind and soul what Charlamagne possesses.

Anything you want to add to this interview?
I just want to say praise be to Allah, man. South Carolina we almost here. 803. 843. 864. Charleston is what created Charlamagne Tha God. Columbia is what made Charlamagne Tha God. New York City is what’s going to establish Charlamagne Tha God as a major player in this industry and establish South Carolina as a major player in this motherfucking game. Man, I just want to thank everyone that’s been holding me down. Never So Deep Records. Entertainment 4 Life. Stupid Dope Moves, Inc. Shadyville DJs. Ice Media. And right now it’s all about Question Mark Entertainment, Team Wendy all day. I gotta big up my man Randy Roper, whose doing this interview right now and who always does the motherfucking interviews for just being on his grind and giving a fuck about this little ass state called South Carolina.

Randy Exclusive
Staff Writer
IndieStreet Magazine
www.indiestreetent.com
randy@indiestreetent.com