In Hip-Hop, you’re only as strong as your weakest link, that’s probably why major artists keep a sturdy cast around them. The days of being associated with a crew and not having any value are long gone, and if you don’t bring something to the table; chances are you will be too.

The state of Texas has been on a lot of people’s radars, and this was way before the Dallas Cowboys’ Quarterback Tony Romo starting dating Jessica Simpson while the franchises outspoken Wide Receiver Terrell Owens made playful jabs at the lovebirds. Fact is the city of Houston has become a hotbed by manufacturing acts like Paul Wall, Chamillionaire, Lil’ Flip, Mike Jones, and Devin The Dude.

Another name that belongs at the top of the list is Slim Thug. The one time Swishahouse employee has made a name all his own by venturing through the independent circuit after leaving Interscope due to the delays of his second album The Boss Of All Bosses. On a good note though, his Boss Hogg Outlawz imprint, which is home to PJ Tha Rap Hustla, Young Black, J-Dawg, C-Ward, and Killa Kyleon, is on schedule to release their sophomore effort Back By Blockular Demand (Serve & Collect 2). Riding off the success from their initial Serv e & Collect project, the boys from the South still remain a cohesive unit in search of one goal.

On a sunny afternoon in midtown Manhattan, the plush and extravagant Roosevelt Hotel is playing host to the Houston natives for a three-day stint in the city that never sleeps. On the second floor, you can hear a huge commotion coming from one of the conference rooms. Right outside the room, is an individual with a physique that mirrors that of an NBA Power Forward. The person is having a brief conversation on his cell phone, and upon further investigation, the towering figure turns out to be Slim Thug.

Inside the conference room itself, all the laughter and hubbub is caused by everyone watching PJ Tha Rap Hustla and J-Dawg who are involved in a ‘dollar per push-up competition.’ The stereotypical refreshments such as hard liquor are replaced by juice, water, and soda, along with party mix for anybody who’s feeling famished. When he’s done with his personal phone call, the big boss himself Slim Thug walks into the room, and decides to join the physical fitness battle that have entangled PJ and J-Dawg. Wearing a pair of blue jeans, white low-top Air For Ones, and a multi-colored T-Shirt, the man with his patented cornrows braided straight back in single braids with black beads on the ends drops and gives the rest of the Boss Hogg Outlawz thirty-five. After the amusement sets in, all six members of the collective grab a seat and discuss why they’re all capable of handling themselves without having to rely on each other.                     

SixShot.com: You guys have a new album coming out, Back By Blockular Demand (Serve & Collect 2). What are people going to hear from it?

PJ: On this here, we’re using a lot more concepts, like we’re talking about snitching, and living our lives, you know what I’m saying?

J-Dawg: On the first Serve & Collect we just catered to us, but like PJ said, we’re using more concepts on this one right here.

PJ: We’re just using more topics, and it’s a good quality album. 

SixShot.com: How would you say the chemistry is between all of you guys?

PJ: We all set each other up. Like [Killa] Kyleon might write a hook, and I might lay a hook down or write a verse.

Slim Thug: I’m usually the dude with the first verse, and after the first verse it’s whatever.

PJ: If there’s a beat that you like, but you’re bullsh*tting, then you’ll miss the beat.

Slim Thug: Yeah, because there’s already six of us.

PJ: There are songs on the album I wanted to be on, but I was in jail so I missed out.

C-Ward: There were songs I wanted to be on, but I didn’t make it to the studio in time.

J-Dawg: That’s the real reason why we don’t have any features on the album besides Ray J and [Lil’] Keke. It’s not like we don’t want to mess with a lot of rappers, but sh*t—there’s already six people. So when you look up, there ain’t no room for anybody else.   

SixShot.com: How did you all come to be part of the Boss Hogg Outlawz?

Slim Thug: Well I knew J-Dawg and PJ since ’98 back with Swishahouse. Then we formed the Outlawz, and we had the Screwed Up Click with Chris Ward. Then C-Ward and I ended up doing a few records together, and the music was good so we ended up clicking up. Then we brought Killa Kyleon through and Young Black. It just all happened like magic.

SixShot.com: Last year you came out with Serve & Collect, which had positive reviews. Do you have any expectations for this album?

PJ: It ain’t never hard to make better music. We’re all our own critics; we judge each other. Before we leave the studio, we all can take constructive criticism to the point where we can be honest with each other.

Killa Kyleon: What we’re really trying to do with this album is to get people to look at the whole camp, and set the world up for these solo albums we got coming. We all have our own sh*t going, you know? [Young] Black got his thing going, PJ got his thing going, and Slim [Thug] already got his thing going. So we’re just trying to set everything up for us as a whole, and let people know that we can stand on our own. The Boss Hogg Outlawz is just the root of the tree, and we got different branches. 

SixShot.com: So what’s the secret to Houston’s success as of late?

Killa Kyleon: I think the secret to our success is that we don’t stop working. We don’t stop working, and we do us. We’re not knocking other cities, but whatever is hot the people are going to be on top of that. We feel like we’re the sh*t already amongst us. Texas is a whole ‘nother world and people are always like, “Y’all are country!” Every city is pretty much the same, there’s just a different branch of people. We’re country boys, and we’re city slickers; you know what I’m saying? We’re just in our own little world down there, and it’s a competitive nature within that zone. There’s a lot of sh*t going on in the game that everyone isn’t paying attention to. You can go back to [DJ] Screw’s tapes and you got Mase talking about putting screens in a Benz, and that was when he first jumped off with Puffy.

PJ: You got Jay-Z talking about…

Boss Hogg Outlawz: [Collectively] Chopping blades…

PJ: And that comes from the pimp, Pimp C and Bun B.

SixShot.com: When people write you off by saying you’re country boys off the bat, how does that make you guys feel?

J-Dawg: The way I’ll answer that is, we are just country boys. [Laughs]

Slim Thug: On some real talk, honestly when I come out here, I think New York is country than a mothaf*cka!

SixShot.com: [Laughing]…

Slim Thug: All bullsh*t aside, I swear to God. Whenever I come out here, I think a lot of the sh*t that ya’ll do is country. What people don’t realize is that we’re a big-ass city; we’re like the forth-largest city in the United States. So we ain’t country really; like we’re from Texas but we’re some city boys. All of us are from the city, and when I come out here I see a lot of sh*t y’all be doing that looks country than a mothaf*cka. That’s real talk.

SixShot.com: [Laughing]…

J-Dawg: I think people just have a certain expectation of us, like I never seen a horse in my life.

Young Black: When people think Texas, they just think of some backyard country stuff.                

SixShot.com: The South has always been credited for helping each other out. Is that just a conscious effort on the part of the artists?

Slim Thug: Well right now people are helping each other out. I’m happy for the progress it has made, but there was a lot of tension and a lot of not getting along a few years ago than it is now. Like now you’ll see artists from Houston working together who would never work together. Everybody pretty much squashed their beef. I don’t know anybody beefing besides the little Mike Jones and Trae sh*t that just popped off.

Killa Kyleon: When that pressure hits, you’re either going to fold or step up to the plate. A lot of mothaf*ckas got a lot of talent. Just like J-Dawg said the other day, “There’s going to be someone out there that can rap his ass off, but you still need to peep the other person and check out how he’s playing.”

C-Ward: You can say that too, but you might have a mothaf*cka that doesn’t have the mechanics, tools or distribution to make his sh*t get out there. People may think whatever they want about Mike Jones, but look at the powerhouse he had behind him. He was everywhere making sure he was being heard, so that means a lot too. Just like Jada said, “Why is a n*gga nicer than Jordan, but didn’t get that break?” He ended up going to North Carolina with it. I have a lot of partners in New York that are very talented, but they just don’t have any opportunities.          

SixShot.com: Was there any reason why you didn’t try to push the project on a major label versus an independent one?

Slim Thug: Well we just left Interscope/Geffen and the thing over there is when you have a building like Interscope—there’s a million mothaf*ckas working over there. It’s hard to get anything done, especially with [them] having so much other sh*t to do. It’s hard to make a machine like that move; if the radio staff ain’t together with the marketing staff, and the marketing staff ain’t making a good connection with the A&R, then anything can happen. If everybody ain’t on the same page, then it can f*ck your whole project up.

You can have the perfect album, the most classic thing ever, and they can f*ck it up. I don’t like that, because I like to be more personal with the business and being able to call the people who are behind your project and being able to walk through KOCH and holler at all of my people, and just be cool with them and just to know them. But over [there] you don’t know who the f*ck you’re dealing with, and if somebody’s bullsh*tting over here I can point directly at who’s supposed to be doing what. It’s a smaller company, it moves faster, and it’s good for us. I like it like that, because that’s how we always did our music.   

SixShot.com: Is there anything about the independent side that you don’t like?

Slim Thug: A major can take the sh*t international, and probably further than a KOCH can take it, and that’s understandable because they have a bigger staff. In a perfect world, I’m sure they can push the sh*t further. Majors have so much money to spend, and they can give you that MTV look you need, put you on an award show, and all kinds of stuff.  

SixShot.com: Earlier Killa [Kyleon] mentioned the fact that all of you are coming out with solo projects. How do you think the transition will be going from a group to a solo setting?

PJ: Everybody knows us; the streets know us. If you come to Houston and ask about us, they know us, we have a good look just from running with Slim [Thug], and we’ve been everywhere. We’ve been to the VMA’s, we’ve been on red carpets, we’ve been on 106 & Park, we’ve been on the Jay Leno’s, the Tyra Banks’…      

Slim Thug: It was Jimmy Kimmel, not Jay Leno… [Laughs]

SixShot.com: [Laughs] They’re all the same anyways…

Killa Kyleon: He [Slim Thug] never hindered us, he never held our hands and did records with us just to do them. If we do a record with Slim [Thug] it’s because we’re like, “Damn, Slim do you want to jump on this record?” It was never how 50 [Cent] straight up took these boys by the hand—and I ain’t knocking their situation at all. It helped, but at the same time it hurt. That’s because it’s kind of hard to live up to that, when you can live up to your own standards, and you don’t have to live in anyone’s shadow. I’m going to be there, I’m just not going to hinder you by walking you through everything just because I’m bringing you in.

Slim Thug: It’s not like every time some sh*t pops I have to be there. I think everybody has enough talent to stand on their own, and can do their own sh*t. The main objective for this album here for me personally—I’m sure they probably want to sell some records and get some kickback. I don’t give a f*ck what this record sells, or if everybody bootlegs it. But as long as everybody hears that sh*t and takes a favorite artist from it like they’re saying, “Okay, I want to hear more from this cat, or I want to hear more from that cat.” I just basically want to set up all of them, so they can all be able to stand on their own two feet, and they will be able to hold their own. That’s the main objective for this album.

SixShot.com: Speaking of standing on your own two feet, obviously people are always going to say things like “The Outlawz are only put on because of Slim Thug.” How do you deal with that negativity?

PJ: The people are going to get our sh*t, then they’re going to pop it in and say, “DAMN!” “These n*ggas got something, and it ain’t about Slim [Thug]…”

Slim Thug: There it is… Everybody got a solo song on there.

PJ: He might be featured on the sh*t, but it ain’t about that. We’re straight homie…

J-Dawg: We ain’t the type of people to sit around and let somebody dictate our moves. The truth is Slim [Thug] did put us on, but at the same time we have our own sh*t too.

Slim Thug: For example, on Serve & Collect part one ‘Ride On 4’s’ was J-Dawg’s song, and I was just featured on it. I ain’t got to be there for the crowd to go crazy; you know what I’m saying? Mothaf*ckas love J-Dawg, and he got a whole new fan base, and everybody is on his d*ck from that song. Everybody got a solo song on this album, so who’s to say? It might be PJ’s time, or it might be Killa [Kyleon] who got the song that got mothaf*ckas going crazy. J-Dawg already made due, and now everybody knows him as a solo artist. Or it doesn’t even have to be a solo song; it can be a verse that sets everything off. So that’s all this is, is to set them up as artists and for people to get a sample of the music.

PJ: We’re all solo artists—nobody came in this group together. Boss Hogg Outlawz is the label.

Killa Kyleon: It’s just like when you say Dipset. You have everybody in Dipset that are established solo artists, and the only time you get a Dipset album is when Duke Da God puts out them Dipset albums to showcase the artist, but everybody over there is a solo artist. Some might not be as hot as others, but we’re all solo artists.

PJ: If anybody wants to f*ck with Boss Hogg Outlawz, then they can f*ck with that person. If they want to f*ck with Slim [Thug] then they can f*ck with Slim [Thug]. If they want to f*ck with Chris Ward, J-Dawg, Killa Kyleon, Young Black, or me then they can f*ck with us.

Slim Thug: We’re all bosses at the end of the day. Everybody got their own labels, their own cliques, and everything.