ThugPoetry.com: You've been independent for a while now and you've dropped "Listen" independently. How do you feel about the way things are going and how well "Listen" has sold?

TQ: It could have done a lot better if I had a better distributor, I think. They didn't put enough for the record out in the States. Otherwise it's a formula that you just have to keep hittin back until you jump into it like in the US. My fan base is not just concentrated in one place. It's like all over the place. From the cities all the way out to the suburbs. So I really have to stay on the road a lot and I have to cover a lot of grounds to get to my fan base. The way I see it it's still about what the dollar amount is and the bottom-line is that is gonna pay me more than going independently. I have to have a life partner first of all and just be committed to do the work that it takes to drop a record.

ThugPoetry.com: Do you feel like you got a lot more responsibility right now than you did back then when you were with Epic or Cash Money?

TQ: Most definitely. It all goes through me. I have to really lock out the time that it takes to do it. You have to really put together a plan and follow it. Whenever it's time to drop a record in the States because of the reason that I said: it really takes concentration, control and dedication to really put it out there and make something. But as far as "Listen" goes… it keeps the company running. It makes enough to pay the bills every month which is in today's business saying a lot. It's not going backwards, it's going forwards. So now it's up to me to take it to the next level.

ThugPoetry.com: You're about to drop a new album here in Europe. What's it called?

TQ: Right now it's called "Apocalypse". It may be changing to tell you the truth. I write new stuff every day. I just wrote a joint today that I'm loving right now. It's on my mind, I keep singing it.

ThugPoetry.com: When is it going to drop, do you think?

TQ: Fourth quarter sometime. Hopefully September. I'm not all the way finished with it yet. I've been working on it for a long time, but it keeps changing. I don't wanna drop it before it's ready. There's a couple of situations that I got on the table, but I go for the same formula over here [Europe] man. If it doesn't pay enough it's unnecessary to do it.

ThugPoetry.com: You used to be with Uni4 Records, or at least that was the plan.

TQ: That was the plan, but I was never with them.

ThugPoetry.com: Why didn't that go through? Also because of the money and all that?

TQ: You know what? I just saw in the beginning that it was a bad situation. It was gonna be a situation that I wasn't into. I think they do business differently than I do and our business couldn't work together.

ThugPoetry.com: What are the guest features on the album?

TQ: We got a couple of guest features on there. We got The Outlawz on there. We got Mike Jones. I got Jagged Edge. I've got Lil Wayne on a joint. I got B.G. on a song, Mikkey's on there. Yeah, there's a couple of features on there, man. It's gonna be nice.

ThugPoetry.com: What about the production? Who's doing the production?

TQ: Mannie Fresh is doing the majority of the production. It's on basically. That's why I say the album might be changing. We got some new developments going on. Me and him gonna do us a little situation in the States. He just left Cash Money, so now he's free and clear to do anything he wants. We're gonna put something together.

ThugPoetry.com: When did he leave Cash Money?

TQ: A couple of months ago.

ThugPoetry.com: Do you know why?

TQ: The same reason anybody else left. The same thing ya'll hear about in the magazines. It's no different, it's the truth.

ThugPoetry.com: Alright, I won't get more into that. Lyrically and musically what direction are you going to with this album?

TQ: I started on one plane, but it's going all over the place. It's really musical. That's why I'm really anxious about how to wrap all the songs in together. I did so many for it. You know I've been working on it for a long time. Over here I spread my wings a little bit more than I can at home as far as the music that I do. It's a really musical album, but it's got some hard ass beats on there. The beats are much harder than on "Listen", probably harder than any of the rest of em. Mannie's gonna bring the drums, so… heavy drums and heavy music.

ThugPoetry.com: In the interview that we had last year you mentioned you did "Hotel California". A few months later you said on the message board you had a special female guest on that song. Can you disclose who that is?

TQ: Naw, I can't disclose who that is yet cause I gotta figure out if we're using that one or not. We might be using that one or we might not. If we do it's gonna be big news over here.

ThugPoetry.com: What about clearing the song. I heard you had some problems clearing the song…

TQ: Yeah, we put a little verse at the top that is setting the song up. The Eagles didn't like that and that gave them the grounds to shut it down, but we took that off so now they can't tell us we can't use it.

ThugPoetry.com: You also picked a new single for the album…

TQ: Yeah, it's gonna be "Right On"! We got a new remix. We remixed "Friends" and we kinda flipped the lyrics over that. So we coming out with that first. It's gotta be the only song that this album has on it that's also on "Listen".

ThugPoetry.com: I heard the song and you use this one sample. What sample is it?

TQ: It's "Friends". "Friends" from Whodini. Nas and Lauryn Hill use it too on "If I Ruled The World".

ThugPoetry.com: In December you said you were about to drop some new "Listen" shit. You were talking about "Listen 1.2" featuring The Outlawz, Lil Flip and Mike Jones… What do you exactly mean with "Listen 1.2"? Is that this album?

TQ: No, it's not this album. It's gonna be the next American release, basically.

ThugPoetry.com: You also have this song with Mike Jones…

TQ: I have two songs with Mike Jones. One nobody has heard before.

ThugPoetry.com: I saw this ad in the XXL and it said this is the new single of "Listen". What can you say about that?

TQ: That's not off this "Listen", it's off the next "Listen" that we talked about on the board.

ThugPoetry.com: When is that album dropping?

TQ: Next year sometime.

ThugPoetry.com: After you're done with the whole European album thing?

TQ: Right.

ThugPoetry.com: But it's actually gonna be called "Listen 1.2"?

TQ: That's just a temporary name.

ThugPoetry.com: You're hosting this mixtape of Youngline Records. How did you get in touch with these people?

TQ: They called the office and they said they was digging my shit and they asked me if I could get on their mixtape. As simple as that. I just got on it. I mean, I keep telling people I'm approachable and I like to work with people, so… people wanna call up to the office and get me on mixtapes or whatever… when I have the time I do it! Sometimes I just don't have the time though. Those are the ones I can't get to. Sometimes when I'm at home and I ain't got nothing going on then I can do it quick, easy. I can do it on my laptop.

ThugPoetry.com: The day before yesterday we were in the radio studio where you also dropped some stuff for a mixtape. What mixtape was that?

TQ: You know what, I don't even remember the name to tell you the truth. I do so many of em, dude. Whatever it was… I felt it because it was people that have always given me support. Everybody at that radio station, everybody at that building have always supported me, so it's only natural for me to give it back to them. If that's gonna help push their mixtape along a little bit then I'm gonna do it. They've always played my record everytime I come into Holland. I've always done interviews. If it's people that's loyal to me, I'ma be loyal to them. And I've done so many man… I've done so many mixtape all over the place that I've hosted for people or just gave em a song or however. It's just another way to get yourself out too. People are gonna listen to these mixtapes.

ThugPoetry.com: What other upcoming projects do you have due. Are you featured on other people's albums or anything?

TQ: I did a joint with Jagged Edge. I don't know if they're gonna use that for the album or not. I did a joint with Ras Kass that's hot to death. Me and him got down on a joint.

ThugPoetry.com: For his upcoming album?

TQ: Yeah, so he said. Me and Mannie did a song together. I don't know if we're gonna use it for my album or his. Yeah, I've been in the studio a lot. It's really been kinda working on holding in on this Europe album and getting ready to start on the next American one. Cause I mean one thing about independent is it's gonna take the long way off. Ya'll keep me rolling so…I'm just trying to stay on top of making the music, man.

ThugPoetry.com: Also on the message board you said you were in talks with The Outlawz about doing an album together. What can you tell us about that?

TQ: I don't know, we'll see. We've definitely been doing a lot of songs together. We're kinda on an opposite schedule. It's like when they're working, I'm kinda cool and when I'm working they're kinda cool. Right now they're pushing their independent album. I got the first single with them on that. That's out in the States right now. They're on the road working with that, so we'll see what happens. I mean, that's one of my favourite groups so we're always gonna do music together. Eventually we're gonna have enough to drop something together.

ThugPoetry.com: Like you just said you are on the first single of their album. You didn't shoot a video for that…

TQ: Naw, we didn't end up shooting a video. We was gonna shoot a video, but I don't know what happened.

ThugPoetry.com: Are you on their DVD?

TQ: Yeah, I'm on their DVD and they're on mines too. I think I'm on their DVD, I know we shot some footage.

ThugPoetry.com: Recently you released that mixtape "Street Muzik Volume One" with AtWill and Mikkey. First of all, where is AtWill at?

TQ: AtWill is in the Bay. He's from Richmond, CA. He is somebody that I always like working with. He used to be down with me back in the day with the Headbeat thing and he was the only artist that I continued to work with after that. He's been dropping his stuff in the streets, but I told him that I want him to ride with me, but it's all about getting the right deal for him. I don't wanna put him into nothing until it's the right situation. My whole philosophy really has changed with this thing. I'm just not interested in doing business that's gonna take a lot of time and not gonna make a lot of money. A lot of these people are trying to get these artists just bullshit deals and I can't roll with that.

ThugPoetry.com: Who is this artist named Teff Killuminati?

TQ: A lot of times when we are on the road we're doing mixtapes and we're doing records or whatever… and now that I'm independent I can get on other people's stuff without having to ask nobody. With Teff we basically gave him a song for his mixtape and he gave us a song for ours. We like him.

ThugPoetry.com: Did this mixtape drop already?

TQ: I don't know. Honestly I don't keep up with it. I just make sure I'm on them when they come out.

ThugPoetry.com: Oh ok, I just wanted to hear it.

TQ: I don't even know what the name of it is to tell you the truth, but ya'll know the artist from my mixtape. It's Teff Killuminati and he tight. Check him out, look for him.

ThugPoetry.com: Who produced that song he did?

TQ: Dedano is this producer's name. I might have his name wrong, I don't know… but he hot. He gave me some more tracks too.

ThugPoetry.com: You're also shooting the DVD. Right now you're shooting the international version, volume 3. When is the first one dropping?

TQ: Probably the end of the year, around the holiday season. It'll be in the stores and we're gonna be selling it on the website and we're gonna be selling it on amazon.com too. We will be following up with volume 2 just after the new year and then volume 3 will probably be sometime next spring.

ThugPoetry.com: Volume 3 is the international version. What is on volume 1 and 2?

TQ: Volume 1 is the whole set up. The majority of it was shot on the tour that we did in the US for "Listen" last year. It's hot man. People get to see the behind the scenes footage of what it takes to drop records independently in the 2000s. There's a lot of good stuff on there. I'm on the road constantly doing tours and shows, so we've got a lot of artists on there. We've got Mannie Fresh, Lil Wayne… we got G-Unit on there, Lil Flip…

On volume 2 I think we got the last performance of Ol' Dirty Bastard. I think that's on volume 2 if I'm not mistaking. We got fights: we got the girls fighting, we got guys fighting. We went down to Miami South Beach for the weekend to this festival. We got all the chick with the bikinis and all that on there. So it's a lot of good stuff on there. Then we actually have a lot of game of how the music industry goes on there. You see the good and the bad. You see we're going to markets where "Listen" ain't doing well at all and then we're going to markets where it's blowing up and you can see the difference on the tape. It's a hell of an entertainment DVD to watch. I got all my guys on there. They all got special segments and shit, so by the time you watched volume 1 you will feel like you know everybody in the crew. So when volume 2 comes it will be like clockwork. You have a relationship there already

ThugPoetry.com: This is about a rare ass song… In October Mike Mosley released a song of yours on an album of his. It's called "Can I Get That". Sites like amazon.com say it's with JT The Bigga Figga. When I had that booklet in my hands I didn't see any involvement of JT The Bigga Figga, so what's up with that?

TQ: I don't know what Mike's doing, man. Mike produced that song. It started off with me, Money B, RBL Posse and a couple of other people. I think Big Lurch is on there too. I think he changed the rappers and put some other people on the song. Mike's a hustler. That's how they roll from the Bay. They hit the streets with all kinds of shit, so I don't know where it's at or how to get it or if JT's on there or not or if JT had anything to do with it. I couldn't even tell you.

ThugPoetry.com: Are there still a lot of leftovers that we haven't heard yet from that time with Mike Mosley?

TQ: You know what? There are leftovers from every situation that I've been in that you guys haven't heard yet. There are leftovers from the pre "They Never Saw Me Coming" days when I was rolling with Mike heavy, there are leftovers from "They Never Saw Me Coming", there are leftovers from "The Second Coming". There are so many leftovers from the Cash Money situation, it's ridiculous. Ya'll ain't heard really none of that. There's leftovers from this album I was doing over here first, the "Superstar" joint. There's leftovers from that. Leftovers from "Listen" that didn't make the album. I got so many songs. It's all about getting in the right situation. I just haven't really found the perfect situation to drop them just yet. I rather have they stay locked away then put them out and have shitting on me as far as the pay goes. That's basically what the situation is with me. If you're gonna drop my record and shit on me and pay me like a slave then I don't have to drop records. I'd rather not drop them. "Listen" came out because there was a situation where I could make money. I'm not happy with the job that my partner does in that situation, but I'm not gonna sit up here and lie and say I don't make a lot of money off of it because I do.

ThugPoetry.com: A couple of years back you did three 2Pac joints. What are the names of the songs and who did you do it with?

TQ: The first one's called "Tears Of A Clown". I did that one with Mike Mosley. It's 2Pac rapping on it and me singing on it. I did another one called "Dope Fiends Diner". That's me singing on it and 2Pac rapping on it, produced by Shock G from Digital Underground and then the other one is called "In The Event Of My Demise" and that's me singing on it, 2Pac rapping. If I'm not mistaking Soul Shock and Carla produced that. Honestly I don't know who produced that one, but those are the three that I did.

When you do business with Afeni you basically sign your rights over. She pays you right there, you'll never see any else from the song. So I couldn't tell you what records they're coming out on if they're coming out cause they were done so long ago. I can't tell you if they'll ever see the light of day. I can't tell you that if they come out I'll still be the person on there singing. She paid me for them, I did them and that was it.

ThugPoetry.com: You don't have them in your personal collection either?

TQ: No. I couldn't get copies or none of that. I mean, she paid well for it. It was Pac shit, I would have done it for free.

ThugPoetry.com: Also a couple of years back you had this interview and there's this quote I have from this interview. It says: 'Like protons and neutrons, life is about positives and negatives, little pluses and minuses. If you cover up the minuses, then the pluses don't mean shit.' I think it's a very deep thought. Can you just explain it?

TQ: You have to go through bad to see what good really is. Most of the times when you look at the game you look at the cats that got into it and got straight to the top. You see guys that got into this game and they blow up so fast and then a couple years later they're gone. You never heard from them again. For you to know what the good is all about, for you to know how good the good is, you have to see a bad. You have to have some obstacle. You have to have some minuses, so that your plusses mean something. Good from good equals what? You put a little bad in there then it shows you what side you wanna be on. So for me it's like every step that I take or every accomplishment that I've gotten has been through so much work. There's been so much work involved to just a smaller step forward that I'm really appreciative of any type of progress that I can make.

When I wanted to do this when I was 15 years old I prayed for this to happen to me. I was going down the wrong path. I was either gonna end up dead or in jail or something. I prayed for God to bless me with this and he did. I didn't pray to be a star. I didn't pray to be the next Michael Jackson. I prayed that I wanted to write songs and I wanted to have people like my songs and I wanted to make a living by writing songs. That's what I prayed to happen. This whole artist thing like being a singer and all that… that's not really what I asked for. That's just a tool to get people to listen to my songs. I haven't made really a lot of money being an artist. The most money I made being an artist was probably when I was in the "Up And Smoke Tour" or when I first went to Cash Money. It isn't like I can go off and buy houses and buy land with the money I make being an artist, but what I made as a song writer is exactly what I asked for. I can't complain about my current situation.

I know the fans look at it like 'man, we wish TQ could just be bigger and could get into a situation where it's bigger', but all I really want is for the fans that like my music to buy my music. As long as they do that… the people that Thug Poetry touches, those fans that send me so much fan mail all of the time, all of the girls, all of the guys, everybody in jail… just the people that I have a relationship with… and when I call it a relationship it's because I know them because they correspond with me. Whether it be by message board, or whether it be by the fan mail or by the phone… cause a lot of them just call the office and they catch me there and Theresa, my manager, just give me on the phone and I talk to them. Those are the people that I'm really interested in making music every time for them to go and buy it. Because I saw with "Listen" and I see all the way around that if I just apply myself to be able to get them the music that they want I'll be able to make a living and I'll be happy. It's not even about all the MTV constantly or BET constantly or being the number one record because honestly: that comes with so much pressure. I've been through it before. It comes with a lot of pressure and I don't know if that's really the part that I want. Now the good part about it is that I would love for my music to just get to the masses. Not necessarily of what it will make, but because of the fact that if people start listening to my music like mine or from artists that are like me it kinda changes the stage of the industry. People will be back to writing about more substances in the music or whatever. Even before that, if I could just hold in to the people that are already riding with me. If I could just find that way to get to them each and every time, I'll be alright.

ThugPoetry.com: If you could go way back into time, would there be anything that you would do differently in your career?

TQ: Yeah. My first major deal that I signed with "They Never Saw Me Coming", I would have did one deal for just the US and another deal for outside of the US. That would be they biggest change that I would make because I feel like if I was signed to Sony in the US I'd still be with Sony over here now. I really felt like they was a good company back then.

ThugPoetry.com: How does a day in the life of TQ look like? I've been rolling with you for a few days now, but I guess these are not the average days.

TQ: First things first, I work out pretty much every day. I try to do that early in the morning. Then I try to get me a good breakfast. Those are two things I try to do every single day. I probably miss one day a week with both of them, maybe two. If I miss more than that I'm having a bad week.

So I start off with that. I always write something, always. Whether it's a whole song or a verse or a hook, I always write something. The rest of the day is really being filled… these days you never know, I do so much in the studio. Either I'm in the studio or I'm at an acting rehearsal or I'm in a casting meeting or I'm doing something. Now the acting thing is starting up for me. I'm not in the studio as much as I used to be, which is probably good because sometimes I think I'm in there a little bit too much. Getting detached from reality. It's just filled, it's like there's not enough hours in a day.

ThugPoetry.com: How do you like Holland so far?

TQ: I love it. I always have loved Holland. It's one of my favourite spots in Europe for obvious reasons.

ThugPoetry.com: You're here for a few days. What did you do just day by day?

TQ: Sometimes I had long legs in my career where it seems like there is nothing going on, so I try to come where the people give me the most love and kinda let them know what's happening right now. We just kinda came over here to do a show to let everybody know that I am still performing, we're working on a new project that's coming out soon. It's just a little teaser. We partied a little bit, smoked a little bit, drank a little bit and we're having fun. We're going to blow it out tonight and then we're hitting back over the water tomorrow to finish this album.

ThugPoetry.com: When are you coming back?

TQ: We're trying to put something together for September right now. After we finished shooting the movie then we come over and tour in all of Europe.

ThugPoetry.com: This is from an Australian fan. He wanted me to ask you this. When are you coming to their country?

TQ: "Listen" is ready to come out in Australia and Japan in the fourth quarter sometime. They want me to come over there and promote it, so I'm ready. That record is basically signed to a record company. It's signed to Warner Brothers, so it's all about how they wanna put it together. I don't know what their situation is in Australia, but I'ma give em a crack at it and if they can get any kind of success with it I'ma go there and tour and I put this next album out there too. I actually get a lot of fan mail from over there. They're waitng for me, I'm waiting to see them too.

ThugPoetry.com: On "Listen" you mention on a few songs about being a father soon…Are you a father or do you feel like having any kids in the future?

TQ: Yeah, I feel like it. Hahaha.

ThugPoetry.com: Do you still talk to people from Cash Money except for apparently Lil Wayne and Mannie Fresh?

TQ: I talk to Lil Wayne, I talk to Mannie Fresh and B.G. I talk to everybody except for Baby and Slim.

ThugPoetry.com: Do you have beef with them or something?

TQ: Not necessarily beef, I just have nothing really to talk about with them. There's a lot of things that they promised that they didn't make good on. It ain't no need to have no beef. You have a choise with somebody to do business with or not or just holla at somebody and I just choose not to.

ThugPoetry.com: What about the people from Coming Of Age? Do you still talk to them?

TQ: I still talk to two of them, not much though.

ThugPoetry.com: Do you know what they're doing?

TQ: Naw…

ThugPoetry.com: You also started acting a while ago. What movies have you played a part in as of yet?

TQ: I'm getting ready to start my first one. All of the other ones that I've been involved with I didn't get to the end. I started working on "Save The Last Dance" and that one didn't work out. Then I started working on "Find A Forester", "Dark Blue", "The Devil Inside" and none of them penned out. Actually, I get the part and start rolling into it. In one of them they even paid the money. Then something happened and it just didn't go through. Like in this last one, "The Devil Inside" they just picked a different member in the cast. They wanted a Latino person cause it's mostly a Latino movie, so that's what happened with that. This one that I just got, "The Black", signed to delivery, so we'll see what happens with that. Next season I will be in "The Shield", that's a show in America. We'll see what's happening, but it's moving pretty good. I'm doing a couple of little voiceover things for some cartoons. I don't know the names of em or when they're coming out or what it is. Practice is practice.

ThugPoetry.com: So how do you like it so far?

TQ: I love it. My agent likes me a lot and my acting coach says I'm a natural. We'll try my hand at it, we'll see what happens.

ThugPoetry.com: Do you have any favorite actor that you would really like to play in a movie with one time?

TQ: Denzel Washington is my favorite. Even if it's not playing in a movie, just being able to watch him at work, just actually being on the set with when he's doing a movie, just kinda watch the way he gets into character. I'd like that.

ThugPoetry.com: Now I wanna do a little word association thingy. I got like five of them. The first one is 'Amsterdam'.

TQ: Good smoking. Bad food.

ThugPoetry.com: 'Coffeeshop'.

TQ: Good smoking.

ThugPoetry.com: 'Powerzone'.

TQ: Girls. Nice looking girls.

ThugPoetry.com: 'ThugPoetry.com'

TQ: The absolute best website on the planet.

ThugPoetry.com: 'Qu'.

TQ: Qu must be a bit of a genius. Must be a genius. I haven't met him yet, but I think he's a bit of a genius. I've been seeing some of the questions he be replying to on the site. He's using all of these big words and all of this computer jargon. I'm like this guy Qu is deep. He's Einstein.

ThugPoetry.com: Before we finish it up. You got any last words?

TQ: Yeah, I just wanna say to everybody on the website, all of the people that come to the message board, everybody that helps administrates it, I got love for ya'll. Thanks for being down. A couple of people on the website I've been talking to for years, like Elke, like yourself [Mauzip], like Lil Mandy and Qu, Coop and a couple of other ones. I mean, I got love for them cause like I said and I always tell everybody: I didn't know anything about this website. I didn't have anything to do with putting it together, it was just there and people started telling me about it. So when I started going there I got hooked and everybody that I've spoken to that's on there so far has gotten hooked. I just think now we have to start just putting the word out there that it's there. Cause even for people who aren't TQ fans after spending a little time on the website they could become a TQ fan. I don't know if you saw the T-shirts that we had made up, but we try to Thug Poetry on all of our…

ThugPoetry.com: Like this one? [Front: "Do you know TQ?"; Back: "I Do! www.thugpoetry.com"]

TQ: Yeah, exactly. We trying to put Thug Poetry on all of our promotional items and always try to run it on stage and run it in the shows and everything because I just feel like that is the central location. That's kind of the TQ headquarter. I mean, it's on the internet, it's open to the world. So just gotta let the word out. Let them know it's there.

ThugPoetry.com: Thanks for the interview.

TQ: Fa sho!