Lil KeKe: A Legend In His Own Right

Pic Courtesy of Universal/Motown

By Bels

Although the state of Texas has emerged a talented group of artists such as UGK (Pimp C and Bun B), Mike Jones, Paul Wall, Slim Thug, and Chamillionare, rarely have we seen a rapper that embodied the true essence of the chopped and screwed movement. That rapper I’m speaking of is…Lil KeKe.

The Houston native undoubtedly became the master of the independent music scene in 1996 alongside the legendary DJ Screw. Under the Screw emblem, Marcus Edwards aka Lil KeKe became a household name while rhyming about the hustler’s lifestyle at various venues pulling in thousands of dollars a night. At 17, he was already making the kind of money some teens only dream about. But it wasn’t just the money that kept up his momentum. Becoming one of the original members of the Screwed Up Clik, Lil KeKe’s raw emotion drained through his freestyles and hence became the background music to the “hood’s” everyday realities. Old and young alike, everyone knows at least one Lil KeKe song. Whether it’s the 1997 classic “Southside” or 2007’s “I’m A G” featuring Cash Money’s Birdman, we all know that when millions repeat your songs back verbatim, that’s major!

Lil KeKe’s devoted fan base has kept him in the forefront of the Texas rap scene. He’s often been garnered as “The Godfather of Texas” hip-hop sound. With his huge following, Lil KeKe’s been able to sell close to 800,000 cd’s independently and still to this day receives great respect from his hometown counterparts.

So for me to understand who Lil KeKe was, what type of impact he’s had on the Houston rap scene, and what’s his outlook for this new album and deal with Universal/Motown, I chopped it up with the legend and here’s why above all else Lil KeKe must be respected.

Explain to us, what inspired you to become a rapper?

LK -You know, um, the same as anybody else. You know just growing up in the hood and in the environment. You know one thing about it, music and sports is always our first love. And since me wanting to be a rapper just like any other natural kid who want to be a quarterback or play basketball or being a rapper is because of their surroundings. So when DJ Screw and I first hooked up, we started doing mix cd’s or mixed cassettes (it was cassettes at that time). We would just do them as a hood thang. We had a lot of fun doing them. We used to freestyle. We use to write with a pen and a pad. That’s what we used to call freestyle. Now today, freestyle is known as I’m gone send you someone else’s beat and you send a freestyle back for the underground for a mixtape. Our freestyle was actually no pen no pad. We used to turn on the instrumentals and go. So we started like that. In like ’94 to ’96, we had about 20 – 30 thousand fans just from freestyle cassettes. We started to gain a real big buzz from those cassettes. Next thing you know, that’s when I used to have many people offering me independent deals to really go ahead and make an album.

I read at 17, you were getting paid almost $2,000 a show. At that young age, how did you feel getting large amounts of money? How did you handle the situation?

LK – Well, I acted like a 17 year old. I spent it…just crazy and wild. But it was exciting and one thing about it that’s what made me start taking it serious. I was like if people are paying me $2,000 to do this song, I need to be coming up with more songs. So it started there. Next thing, I started doing more and more and I got bigger and bigger. I dropped my first album in 1997, it was called “Don’t Mess With Texas”. I sold over 100,000 copies independent. It started there and it just took off. To this day, I’ve been doing independent albums…all the way up until this deal. This is going to be my first deal on a major, with Universal. Up until this point, I maybe moved 800,000.


So do you think this new deal with Universal will better your current situation? Considering you came from being independent and were able to push a lot of records on your own…what do you want to happen in this new situation?

LK – Really, what I want to happen with this new situation is, like you said I moved a lot of records, so this is a just do situation. It’s a lot of talk about Texas rap, who is this and what they about. I don’t know about where you from, California or New York, but in Texas I’m revered maybe the best when it comes to after Scarface and Bun B. I consider them of my ranks and this album is going to prove that. And it’s going to sustain and give me more opportunities. I’ve had a deal with Koch. I’ve had a deal with Island Distribution with a company called Breaksway in California where we spent a lot of money. So I have a lot of space and places that know about Lil KeKe, in Alabama and places that you talking about. California and a lot of different places. So I’m expecting this deal and this album to put me in mainstream…to put me in a mainstream situation to be one of the best and to go to the next budget. I want to use this album to get to the next album just like Plies and different people. So you know, I ‘m not really using this album to say “here I am”. There is a lot of people that already know about Lil KeKe. I just want to expose them to who I really am. You know what I’m saying. When you come my way, when you mention the word Lil KeKe, it’s golden! I just want to spread that because I feel like I deserve it. Some of these people that yall revering from Houston and Texas, and calling them the best, most of them will tell you that they got they style from me. They got their swag from me. I started all this. When you think about, when Bun B first dropped his first solo album his first single was “Drapped Up”. That sample that was me. When Pimp C first came home from jail, when he dropped his first single “Knocking Doors Down” again that sample was me. Slim Thug’s single “Wood Grain Wheel”, that’s my sample. Paul Wall’s single “Break’Em Off” that’s my sample. “Chunk Up The Deuce” that’s my sample. “I’m A G” that’s my sample. Tre and Z-Ro, the new ABN record, “Who’s The Man” that’s my sample. “Reppin My Block”…so the trend I’m trying to tell you is that these people are going to get those samples because I was so big here. All those samples on all those songs are me and I want to show the world why these people are using me. I’m so significant. They are using these samples because I was basically before my time. This rap, chopped and screwed, and what yall loving right now…I did that 10 years ago. I sold 100’s of thousands of albums doing that. So this situation I’m in I just really want to get my just do. That’s really what I’m in it for. Platinum or gold is not going to determine who I am. I been a street legend and a person in this game with recognition and fame for a long time. I just want to get my notoriety on a mainstream level.


Speaking of some of those people from Texas, do you plan to feature them on your album?

LK – Yes, I put Bun on there. This is the difference, in the independent game we kind of do what we want to do. We pay people to get on a song and they come get on there. In this game, you pay people for a song and then it won’t even be cleared. It was a lot of people I wanted to work with that I couldn’t even spend my money to work with them due to different things…politics and the game. So what I did was, I reached out to some people in my city that some stars. Slim Thug, Paul Wall, people I got relationships with. Z-Ro, Bun B and all these people and I just gave them the opportunity to be on my first album I’m going mainstream with. They relished the moment and um, I also put people on my album that just wanted to work with me. The people in my city, they love me. They feel like this is a big chance for me. They wanted to be a part of it and those were the people that I used.

Because of your history, do you plan to stick with your same style of music? Do you plan to switch it up for mainstream?

LK – Uh no, you’ll see on this album I spread it out. I call myself a lyricist. I just don’t call myself a Texas rapper. I feel like I got a talent and a skill that can compete nationally. I took it down to this level, don’t get me wrong. I satisfied my fans [the people that’s been behind me a long time]. But I also broaden out. You’ll be able to see skill, you’ll be able to see growth, all of that.


Who were some of the producers you worked with on this album?

LK – Bangladesh, Mr. Lee [one of the hottest producers in the South] he’s doing all kind of things. He’s my home producer. Drumma Boy also. That was the easiest transition to get the tracks than the features. I guess I got to wait until I drop my album so people can hear who Lil KeKe, see who I am and do what I do. There’s a lot of people that love Lil KeKe in the industry. But it wasn’t that easy to work with them. This is a industry where sometime you can’t even spend your money. So..Birdman on the album. Me and him real cool. I really wanted Wayne but… I know he’d want to be on the album. But he was so busy and had so much going on that I wasn’t able to do that either. But the next one, I got him on the next one that’s coming out.

So was the “Love By Few, Hated By Many” release date pushed back? I read that it was originally suppose to be released in 2007…

LK – It was pushed back a couple of times. Just because, I was watching the game. Sometime it was peaking and going up and down. I wasn’t satisfied with the buzz. The buzz was tremendous in the South. But I wanted to give them more time to get behind the album. My single “I’m A G” was real big in the streets. But Universal wasn’t able to get to it that time and do what they needed to do. So I wanted to start fresh with a new single. We are going to impact radio next month. We are going to go ahead and come with it. It’s a long anticipated album in the South. But yes, we pushed it back a couple of times. It wasn’t a money issue or anything like that. We’re just trying to make sure it’s the right time and we going to come with it November 18. That’s the drop date and so we’re working towards it.


On another note, thinking about the economic state and the Houston area suffering from recent hurricanes, how are the people in Houston holding up?

LK – Everybody bouncing back. This is a city with 6 million people so you know we have like 80,000 people still without lights. But we’re bouncing back getting things back to normal. I’m back in the studio. We back working, you know, this is a big city. I tell people Texas, we my have country slang, but we far from country. There’s nothing country about Houston. Economically, we’ll bounce back. We’re one of the best economical states in the world. We get money and we have a lot going on. So it’s going to take a minute. The hurricane is going, but I tell people this probably last with us up until the new year. Everybody is trying to respond to people around me. So we’re bouncing back.


Were any members of your family affected?

LK – Like I said, you’ll always be affected some kind of way because if it happens to you it will happen around you. But we all survived. I didn’t have any casualties in my family, nobody close to me. But there is a lot of people missing in Galveston. They are starting to think some of them may have been washed away. We’ll see…besides that everything’s back to normal.


As we wrap it up, is there anything you want the fans to know?

LK – Yes, I want the fans to know, Texas and the south period, they don’t give us the recognition for making good music. They think we make a lot of dance music and we make a lot of ringtone music. I guess that what they call it, like Bun say. But they going to see something different with me. Rumors that you heard, the controversy, negative things poppin’ about Lil KeKe…I just want this album to open it up. Give me my place in the game to carry out as a artist. So I just want people to look out for it. You gone hear the real lyricism. You gone really hear it, from Texas the way it’s suppose to be done.

As you can tell, Lil KeKe is a man on a mission. Finally, he’s got the biggest opportunity in his hands. In this predicament, there’s no time to fold. Lil KeKe’s ready with his game face on. Ready to take on the doubters and the people who refuse to give him his credit. Watch out world, this Texas legend is ready to get his respect!