David Banner is a Grammy Award winning hip-hop artist and producer, largely credited for bringing Mississippi hip-hop into the mainstream, and crafting major singles for artists such as Lil Wayne, T.I. and Snoop Dogg. He’s highly active in politics, most notably speaking to Congress during their 2007 hip-hop hearings, and is currently spearheading his 2M1 movement to organize and liberate the hip-hop community “to start controlling our own music, movies and content” through the release of his Sex, Drugs and Videogames album.
Q: How is the progress of your 2M1 movement going?
DB: Can I ask you a question? Have you ever had a feeling, man, to be able to do something that’s successful already in its inception, to be able to conceive, to be able to be blessed, for God to bless you with a thought that you can actually see coming to fruition? That’s amazing. There’s something that potentially will help change the state of music, will help influence other people to do well and do for themselves and empower themselves, that can affect charity, that can affect politics in one swoop. Sh*t. You better get your ass to work. I’m happy.
Q: On Greatest Story Ever Told you say being a visionary is both a curse and a blessing. Could you share more about 2M1 in regards to this?
DB: What I would like to say is that we’ve got 16 songs on [Sex, Drugs and Videogames], and I’m going to show you the mentality of how they [society] tricked us into degrading hip-hop. An album that has Grammy Award winning producer named David Banner who, let’s just say me, an album that’s me with nobody else on it is worth retail price. Would you agree with that?
Now, along with David Banner, you get Lil Wayne, Chris Brown, Snoop Dogg, Big K.R.I.T., 2 Chainz, Nipsey Hussle, Ras Kass--the list goes on. Is that not worth retail price? Let’s keep going. I’ve shot 16 videos, a video for every song, and all I’m asking people for is a minimum donation of a dollar.
It should be about money. This is an art. You’re supposed to pay for it, not be degraded, and we give money to all of these high-priced clothing companies and don’t ask any responsibility to them or question them, don’t ask them why we’re not in their ads. We don’t ask them why they don’t do anything for our communities when we give them billions of dollars of free advertising a year. I don’t understand that.
Q: That echoes back to 2007 when you were testifying before Congress during the hip-hop hearings. You said “hip-hop is sick because America is sick.” Do you still fully believe that idea?
DB: Oh, yes, even more. You at look at what’s going on with Trayvon Martin’s murder, and you be very honest with yourself, separate yourself from emotions and listen to what I’m saying. You listen to what some normal people are saying about the murder of a black child. Not a black man. And it’s just not the normal American citizen. We’re talking about government officials. We’re talking about superstars. The value that they have for a black child’s life--no respect, no remorse for the families, no remorse for the community. Definitely no remorse for the music. There’s no morals or remorse for any past that is connected with Black people in general, because if you don’t have any respect for a child, then what do you think about the grown person?
In saying that, doesn’t our music right now reflect the same f*cking thing? Even the fact that people have no problem with saying the word ”nigger” any more. I’ll give you an example: 10 years ago, there was an anxiety about saying the word “nigger” because either, one, you respected Black people, or you feared them. If it was done, you knew there were repercussions that were connected to it.
Where are we right now, and is that directly connected to what I just said? Is that not directly connected to the state of music, to the murders that are going on? These murders happen every day in our community. They’re not caught on tape, then they’re not a problem, but there’s not even remorse to it. People are not even sorry for it. You look at the blatant disrespect for our president. Whether you liked George Bush or not, people respected George Bush, and I’m seeing stickers on cars that say “Don’t Re-Nig” [in reference to President Barack Obama]. Is that not racist?
It goes all the way back to this concept. We can’t expect anything or anybody to respect something that we don’t. We have to change. It’s an amazing paradigm, and it’s crazy when you understand it, but it’s hard to properly explain it to other people. I can see it. I can see it so clear, and I’m looking around asking everybody else “Do you see this sh*t?” and everybody else is like “Uh.” As an American, the only way to make anybody really listen is to get the numbers. When I get this two million [people], I’ll bet you everybody listens then. If they don’t listen, it doesn’t matter. We’ve got two million people rolling with us. Let’s go.
Q: There is that strange irony where people will submit to being part of the problem while demanding change, and will remain ignorant to truths that can lead them to their solutions.
Would you call this the curse you have to face as being a visionary?
DB: Honestly, I’ve grown a lot, and I don’t think it’s a curse anymore. The way I was in my thought process, I though of them [people], but the thing is am I willing to work hard enough to make people understand. All God has to do is give me the vision. The rest is up to me, but once I start moving, the blessings come in, but I have to move. And then the truth is, after this album, I have to change. I have to be the example of what I want other people to do. There can’t be any more hidden messages. That’s why I’m telling people what those drugs and videogames stand for. Sex, drugs and videogames stands for the fact that most Americans want sex, drugs and violence, and we think it’s a choice, but if the only stimuli we get for the most part is sex, drugs and violence, then what the f*ck do you think you’re going to be?
We think that we control the will of our thought process. All these kids, every year, if it’s the only thing they hear or see, then that’s what they’re going to be. And I said it at Congress, if you want kids to talk about roses, then plant some, let them see some. If you want kids to stop robbing and stop gangbanging, give them some worthwhile jobs, or get an education that shows them that they’re kings and queens and not niggers. I promise you, if we promote and give more light to positive music and help positive music become successful, kids will do whatever is popular, whatever is popping, but we’ve got to make sure that we’re supporting the people that are trying to do something positive, because we don’t [do that]. We don’t put them on the cover of Vibe magazine, we don’t push them hard.
The honest truth is that at this point, it’s in the numbers. People respect numbers, dude. People respect our ability to properly organize and disseminate people. Every movement in America has been started by a family, whether we admit it or not. A lot of them are hating families, and a lot of us don’t know the names of them, but it’s about the family. It’s a group of closely-knit people, except my family’s going to be two million. Imagine the social ramifications of that, for us to be able to openly talk to two million people about whatever.
It all goes in every form of life. We’re not trying to influence people. It’s just talking and trying to get it together. Politics--what are we going to about this, how are we going to do this. All I’m doing is organizing and showing other artists what they have the opportunity to do. Charity. Me and Snoop [Dogg] were talking about it. Snoop was like “Man, if there was a charity that needed to be helped, you and me could get together three or four songs, let people know this is for charity and let them donate whatever, and then we give it to the charity.” If we have that type of power and we have that type of social group, we don’t have to go and forecast it to the world.
American society is so parasitic, that any time we get something that’s hot, we want more and more and more until it dies. Once I get my two million people, I’m not marketing to get more than two million people. If more people come in, I’m cool with that, but they’re going to treat those two million people like stars because once I get that two million, I don’t need something else.
Q: You’ve been involved with politics in the past. How do you think the political landscape with the upcoming elections is going to effect the movement?
DB: I believe the political landscape is going to help the movement because it’s driving home a lot of the stuff I’m saying. People are being political, so they have their eyes open right now. People’s eyes are wide open right now. Now all of the stuff that we went through, that stood and did not give up, now people are seeing what we’re talking about, they are all a little bit more trusting to move into something that you say is a vision. I think right now is the best time in the world, because people are paying attention now. I said the music industry was hurting back when [Hurricane] Katrina happened, but nobody could see it. Now you can pull up the numbers. People know what it is. There is a sense of urgency, and I think it all ties in. I do think that people are smart enough to do more than one thing at a time.
When I started off [in music], I started with one hundred CDs. I sold a hundred CDs at ten dollars a piece, made ten thousand dollars, split five up, bought a van, and then bought five thousand CDs, sold those at ten dollars a piece, and made fifty thousand dollars. I didn’t get a record deal. Nobody believed in Mississippi. Nobody believed until they saw the numbers, saw what I was selling out of my van, what I was selling in confinement, and the record spins I had. Nobody gave a sh*t about my movement. They gave a f*ck about my movement once they saw my numbers and passion.
They say if you’ve got a million Twitter followers then you’re doing something, or they tell you if you sell a million Youtube views, then you’re doing something. That is a lie. What that shows is that you have a potential for people to watch something for free, but when you’ve got two million people who have swiped their credit cards or who have given you their personal information or have given you money, that is power. You can’t necessarily say you can make those Twitter followers buy something or go somewhere or stand somewhere or support a movement or cause. That does not mean that they’re looking at you. If you have two million active people who have already proven through the one dollar that they’re willing to do something, you make some type of sacrifice, and that’s power.
Q: You see a lot of artists on your same status level that are much different, that would take those two million dollars and stuff it in their back pocket for their ego rather than using it to do something.
DB: What does that do, when that money goes away? When you’re doing what’s right? See, this is what people don’t get about doing what’s right. When you do right, you’ll be able to live the rest of your life in peace. Money doesn’t stop the pain. I learned that. When I had more money than I’ve ever seen in my life, I was not happy. The spirit has to be in line with whatever you believe in. I personally believe in God. Your spirit has to be in line, and you have to do for other people. In some kind of way, you have to do for other people. That’s the only way for you to be in line. And then people will take care of you forever. I’m reading a lot of books, and there was this guy that said “I don’t have any money in my pocket, but I have a million people that I can sleep at their house any time I want to and they’ll feed me. I’ll always be okay.” When I prove to people that I will do the right thing with the stuff that I do, people will never have to worry.
Money will come and go. Money is like blood--once you’ve been stabbed, the flow of money will always flow.
Become a part of the 2M1 movement by donating a dollar, and look out for David Banner’s upcoming album Sex, Drugs and Videogames on May 22 that features A$AP Rocky, Chris Brown, Snoop Dogg, Lil Wayne, Big K.R.I.T., Bun B, Ras Kass and more.
Follow David Banner on Twitter @THEREALBANNER and Facebook, and keep up to date on the 2M1 Movement at DavidBanner.com.
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Follow JT Langley on Twitter: GlantonSlang
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