I got to listen to the record yesterday, and “Crunk Muzik” on the new album is ridiculous. You did that with Blackout Muzik?

Yeah, from Miami. One of them is actually Jadakiss’ DJ.

Did you record a lot in Miami?

I recorded the last half in Miami, did a good 10 songs there. But I been recording, nahmean? When you record, some stick with you, like “this gotta stay, this gotta stay” and it’s just narrowing it down.

What’s your process for that?

Just gotta listen to it. Get high. [My music is] mood music, you dig?

This was definitely a “rider album.”

Straight rider music. That’s what we call it. Nothing but rider music. People that go to work in the morning, all that type of music – people moving around. In the hood all we do is move around, so it’s perfect.

What were you doing to separate your disc from other Diplomats projects? What makes the Jim Jones record different from Cam’Ron’s, from Juelz’…

It’s more hardcore than any other records. I didn’t opt to do any radio records…

And you ended up having a radio record (“Certified Gangsta”) out of the blue.

It goes to show you that you can take the hardest record in the world, that you think will get no radio play, and the media can make it a pop record. If they like it, you don’t necessarily have to sell out to get that pop effect.

(battered red Nextel chirps. Pause for Jones to handle business)

Who’s idea was it to use Eazy’s beat?

My man Bang came with the beat, shit was irresistible.

Is that NWA type of stuff what you usually have in your stereo?

I fuck with Eazy’s music. I fuck with a lot of West Coast oriented music. Coming up I was feeling that gangster music; I was hard and rebellious so it was perfect for me. You dig? And coming from the East Coast, I was up on all that. I loved Biggie Smalls, back when Nas was hot; Jay-Z in his "4.6" days…

That’s funny you mention “back when Nas was hot,” after speaking on him and the Bravehearts in some interviews last week. Have you gotten any response from their camp?

I mean…fuck them niggas, I don’t give a fuck about them niggas. They can suck on something for real. They ain’t in my category, nor are they in my league.

How has being an outspoken artist affected you within the industry?

Only thing is that some people opt not to speak to me. They need a liason. I’m a CEO. I own equity. I should be able to mingle with any type of person in the game. But there’s some people – I don’t know if they’re nervous of me, or feel like I haven’t got my weight up yet – but they opt not to speak to me. Maybe it’s because I speak my mind, or I don’t back down…I ain’t trippin though.

Are you approaching the game from a CEO’s perspective, or an artist’s?

From a CEO’s perspective…I had to calm down. And figure out what it is an artist has to do. That’s why I took a break and went to Miami, because I’m not used to people running up on me like that…

(on cue, the Nextel chirps again. More business)

To bring it back to the record for a second, it was definitely interesting to see (Nation of Islam figure and Hip Hop Summit co-founder) Dr. Ben Chavis kicking off and closing out the record.

Dr. Ben, that’s my nigga. He’s more like a brother to me. I’m happy to be involved with the Hip Hop Summit – and I’m only involved because of him and the kids. I can’t partake in other people’s views, I don’t know what their ulterior motives are.

Do you think the summit will be effective this year in bringing out the vote? Getting people more active?

I mean…they’re definitely effective, I never seen black people more conscious about voting until now. I don’t know if I was just young, or high, or whatever, but this shit - for some reason, people are more in tune.

Did you see Fahrenheit 9/11?

Yes. It was a good movie. A beautiful movie. But at the same time, it’s biased in it’s own way to break George Bush down. I want to see the whole thing as a whole – but I still love [Michael Moore] for what he’s done.

I brought it up, because you've been calling your stuff “rebel music” as much as you call it “rider music.” On the last Kay Slay, you said the Dipset were “the new Black Panthers,” and that you’re “Harlem’s Che Guevara” – so I was curious as to what your thoughts were on some social issues. Do you have bigger plans in mind?

At some point in my career, I want to be very political. Money ain’t everything, you get tired of this shit. I need something else that sparks my brain. Getting political is one thing that could do it. Get chillin with the country on some other shit.

We hold the attention of a generation from 18-28 around the world. So if some of us would come together and humble ourselves – not like the Hip Hop Summit. The Summit’s a beautiful thing, but everyone’s not kicking in. You understand? The whole plan should be to put a jolt on the vote. With so many youths, if we had our shit together like that, the candidates would have to come talk to us personally. The kids in the inner city, the hip hop generation personally, cause they know that our vote counts, and that we’ll beat they ass, Democrat or Republican or what.

I don't know if that will ever happen…but shit sound hella good.

Are you surprised by the popularity, and the power that the Diplomats have had on their audience so far? From the fashion trends, to the mixtapes…

Yes and no. I always knew we had the power to get people…we have this persona that attracts people around us no matter what. But at the same time, I’m from the hood, so to see people who want to rock they hat like me, and know all my lyrics, and want to see the next thing we do…hell yeah that’s surprising. Sometimes it’s even scary.

Do you have any crazy fan stories, from here in New York or being out on tour?

Hmm….not really. But that’s because I wouldn’t consider shit crazy, since when I was coming up I used to feel strongly about certain rappers. So I’m not mad at the fans for anything since it’s out of a love for the music. And we superstars, so nothing should be crazy.

Going along with that superstardom, what’s the next step for the Dip Set empire? Where else do you want to take it?

This feeds a lot of our families. Our friends eat off the situation, it creates jobs. I don’t want to take the music nowhere, I just want to create jobs. If I could employ a thousand people I knew growing up within 10 years, I’m cool. You smell me? And that’s serious – we got the liquor, we got the clothing line coming out, so I got plans to buy factories and own distilleries. These take hundreds of workers. I got shit lined up to do. So I ain’t trying to take it to Saturn or no other shit. It ain’t no next level for me. I’m on the grind. Forever.

So you just want to come at it from a marketing perspective?

I don’t know if it’s marketing, I just want to create jobs. The music is what created that for me, that allowed me to go into any line of work I wanted to. All type of people have to deal with me because of that.

How do you think things have changed since you and Cam first came into this business with Un (Lance “Un” Riviera) back in the 90s?

The game goes around in complete circles. But…I was oblivious [then] to a lot of shit that was going on, I was just happy to be in the game. I was high and drunk for most of the time at the beginning of my career. Even though I was absorbing information, I was just somewhere else. I was stuck on the things that make you famous before they make you rich. It’s only been the last couple years, since like 2001, that I’ve sat down to get this money right.

What brought that change?

My man Light got killed in front of me. We were thugging so hard, shit wasn’t working.

How has it been balancing the people in your crew who are still heavy in the streets while you’re getting focused on the legal business? Do they look to you for an example?

I always have to set the example, because everyone that comes into Dip Set looks at me from one angle or another. And it’s not just money, because I got some people that might have more money than me or my team. But it’s my situation. This is me and Cam’s movement. So if I’m hotheaded all the time it’s not going to work out.

Within the movement, what else is going to get a push after your record?

The clothing line. And I’m talking with Ford to get some charitable stuff done in Harlem. The way I’ve been giving back, nobody would ever know. Nahmean? Nobody sees me giving money to people’s mothers, buying little niggas sneakers on the corner. Nobody sees this shit I do all day. I’m just trying to go about it the right way, so that people don’t just know us for the gangsta shit, or whatever it is they think we do.

Show people a different side to Jim Jones…

There ain’t no different side. That’s who Jim Jones is, that’s who the Diplomats are. They don’t look for the other shit we do, Puff do, Murder Inc, G-Unit. They only glamorize the violence.

But in your video (“Certified Gangsta”) you and Game reenact the liquor store robbery from Menace II Society...

It’s art, you smell me? It’s art! Will Smith got robot niggas blowin peoples brains out. You dig?

So, you’d say…

I emulated a movie! What’s wrong with that? I’m a director. Artistic views! Everything is not what you think it is. People take things literal and it fucks everything up!

(smashes up empty McDonald’s salad bowl for emphasis)

Do you want to do more directing?

I’m trying to do movies and all that shit. I’ve gotten offers but it takes a lot of time [to do a movie].

What sort of offers do people come at you with?

I’ve been offered budgets…I get scripts. Even been asked to act in movies. But I’m trying to get the album out now, and can’t get distracted.

Are there any ideas for the next single, now that “Certified Gangstas” has been out all summer?

“Bend and Stretch” is the next single, with “Jim Jones” on the B-side. Fellie Fel on the West Coast said those were the ones he would play, I gotta get my spins up.

Do you have any particular favorites?

The Bizzy Bone joint I like. “Livin Life as a Rider” I like, a lot of shit. I love the whole album, but it depends on what mood I’m in. Some days I’m fuckin with this song, some days rewind on this.

You've got Bizzy, you've got a track with Chico DeBarge, were there any artists you wanted to collaborate with on this record but couldn’t?

(grinning) Tupac, Biggie, and Eazy-E.

People have drawn comparisons between the image you project now, and Tupac's thug life persona...

I mean…Tupac is a hard nigga, and I fuck with him, but it’s not like I was inspired by the dude. I slept in crack houses and went to school the next morning, smell me? That’s my inspiration. My mother is my inspiration. I feel like [Tupac and I are] stuck in the same paradox, coming from feeling trapped...he’s not my inspiration though. But he did write the soundtrack to my life. What I listened to when I was coming up. And what I’m doing might be the same for someone coming up now.

As far as the guys coming up, especially in your crew, like JR Writer and them, what sort of advice do you have?

I mean, I sit down with them niggas but I’m not really an advice giver. I need them to live they life and hope they look at me [for examples] but they grown men, they need to make their own decisions. That’s what made the Dips, we chose to do what we wanted to do without the industry telling us.

Where do you think the Diplomats fall within the industry today? What sort of niche are you filling?

The void we fill is like…the people we fuck with got nothing to look forward to. We didn’t finish school, we hustlers. So that’s why I say I write the soundtrack to the ghetto. I’m on the road to get rich, but the grind starts at the bottom.

Do you ever feel that success has taken you away from your original perspective in anyway?

I’ve been the same since I came into this. I been on every one of Cam’s albums. It’s just taken me seven years to get my point across.

How do you think people will compare you and Cam?

Cam wrecks these incredible records. He’s a skilled person when it comes to that. He can write a record just for the radio, it’s an art. Whereas I can only tell you about what I feel, and my day, and what my niggas go through. Cam is nice with his…he’s more of an abstract painting, I’m the Sistine chapel.

More realistic?

Yeah, but more like you can just feel it. Where with the abstract painting it makes you wonder. Like “did he just say that?” It works hand in hand, we need that equilibrium. Juelz comes with that hustler mentality kind of flow, like how Jay used to kick it. Very indepth. But everybody compliments everybody.

Putting so much of yourself into the music in a gritty kind of way, is there anything you think people would be surprised to know about you?

I’m just a big kid. I’m the most spoiled nigga out my crew. I don’t want no problems, I just want to have fun. Make this money. Give back to my people like Che Guevara.

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