Longevity is a word not always thrown around in the world of music. In this “here today, gone tomorrow” industry, having longevity is just as rare as finding the Loch Ness Monster sun bathing on the Scottish Highlands.
But every now and then, a handful of people do come along, who happen to be synonymous with the term, and this time it’s none other than the tandem of 8Ball & MJG.
With a total of 19 albums under their belt, (solo or as a group) the duo who emphatically had a hand in putting Memphis Hip-Hop on the map gets ready to release their 20th studio album, Ten Toes Down.
No longer running with Diddy’s Bad Boy South, (no real surprise there) the men born as Marlon Jermaine Goodwin and Premro Smith find themselves in the comfort zone of T.I.’s Grand Hustle imprint for their latest outing.
(more after break)
So without further ado, it’s about time they fill you in on the rest, while spreading some of that Southern Hospitality.
8Ball & MJG: [Laughing collectively]… Not at all…
MJG: It was still like a dream at the time, and after all of this time, it still seems like we’re living in a long dream…
8Ball: It’s been a whole journey man, and we’re still here today…
MJG: We feel like we’re brand new all over again, because at this level we’re going into zones that we’ve never been in before… Like you said at the beginning, we never would’ve imagined that we’d last this long, so right now this is uncharted territory…
8Ball: Kind of sort of, cause the feeling that we’re trying to get on this album is that feeling of being brand new all over again, but it’s still “8Ball & MJG.”
8Ball: Everybody from Bun B, to David Banner, to Drumma Boy, to Snoop Dogg, to Soulja Boy, to a couple of more people… There’s not too many, but we have a couple…
MJG: Not really, because it’s the love of it that keeps it coming… It’s just the love, and finding different ways to do stuff, but still come across as “8Ball & MJG.”
8Ball: We’ve been fans of each other’s music, and we’ve definitely been around each other for a long time… So our management and Grand Hustle kind of came together, and put us together… That’s how the whole “8Ball & MJG/Grand Hustle” situation came about.
8Ball: It really didn’t work out for either party, and we all left in good standings…
MJG: Yeah, it was just time to move on…
MJG: It’s really just about our friendship, and we don’t have any egos and stuff like that… A lot of those other groups weren’t really friends to begin with, they were just groups… So that’s why a lot of those cats break up; you know? Friendships last forever, and we’ve always been cool…
8Ball: We’re always going to be brothers before “8Ball & MJG.” We’ve always done our solo stuff, but no matter what we do outside, we’re always going to be “8Ball & MJG.” Just like Dave Grohl might be part of the Foo Fighters, but he’s still Nirvana…
He might be a Foo Fighter now, but he’s forever going to known as being part of Nirvana… So we’re always going to be 8Ball & MJG no matter what we do…
MJG: Well, one thing that is for sure is that we’re always going to be a part of the music… Right now, me personally I would like to be more involved in helping other artists as far as writing music and producing…
8Ball: I feel the same way… The “8Ball & MJG” thing is going to be one of those things that’s always going to be there… But as far as helping other artists, that’s the purpose of my label; Eight Ways Entertainment…
We’re definitely trying to move onto other aspects of what we do… But as far as the solo album stuff, I’m going to go crazy within the next couple of years; so just check me out, and remember what I told you today…
MJG: Well, I think now there are a lot more artists showing unity… Right now there are a lot of up-and-coming artists, and we have a nation-wide audience… But from a business part, we’re trying to be more unified than we were in the past
8Ball: It’s always been hard in Memphis, and I don’t know why… But for some reason, it’s always been hard for artists to come out of Memphis… The whole unity thing is here, but it’s not here…
People do it, but they don’t do it… It’s one of those things where you have to get the right group of people to get unified as one, as far as music… I attempted to do that last year on my label with Memphis All-Stars, but can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink…
So it might not be “8Ball & MJG,” “Three 6 Mafia,” or “Yo Gotti” to bring the city together; it might be the artists after…
MJG: Right now it’s like we’re competing with ourselves… There can be another artists that’s hot now, but it’s not guaranteed for him to be around for as long as we’ve been around…
8Ball: The competition is there, and the same people that listen to new artist’s music, are the same people that listen to “8Ball & MJG.” So the only battle is with our fans listening to the old stuff and new stuff, and where they’re going to spend their dollar… That’s the battle…
