Months before signing to G-Unit, Sacramento bred rapper Hot Rod was trying to make it in the Phoenix  mortgage industry while still chasing his dream of making it in the music industry.

After seeing an ad on a local music website seeking new artists for G-Unit records, he sent in his demo and weeks later while at work he received a call from 50 Cent telling him he didn’t have to work anymore. And as they say....the rest is history.

Sixshot.com sat down with Hot Rod to discuss everything from being one of the first, if not the first MC signed to a major label from Phoenix, the hate he received, and what happened to his record with Mary J.

Tell me about the call from 50 telling you to leave your job.

I had just started like a mortgage job and I was still in training trine make it happen. My brother turned me onto it. I’m sitting at the desk. I get hit up on IM by this guy Taurus Scott saying 'Hit me up, one of the A&R’s liked your demo'.

This was like a month and a half after I sent the demo to G-Unit. He gives the number to the A&R. I called him and he said the demo was hot. He started asking me some questions and I heard this time and time again so I wasn’t excited yet.

So I figured he wanted some p ics or more music so he says he'll call me back on conference call. Ten minutes later, he calls me back and he’s like I got you on conference call and I got 50 on the line. And I'm like '50 cent?' (Laughs).

50 says 'Yo Rod what’s poppin? what’s good?', and it sounded like 50 and  at this point my heart is racing. I got to the lobby and 50 starts talking to me about the demo and he said it was hot. So he asked me if I was signed and whats my situation. And I told him I made the demo in my room and I'm at work right now and he told me to quit. And he’s like 'Yeah quit, you don’t gotta work no more. I wanna work with you. I wanna fly you to NY tomorrow and we'll be at the G-Unit office and we'll start recording. I think you got some talent'.

He said he was sending flight information and I’m sitting there like 'did this really happen?'

It must have been a crazy feeling.

 I didn’t even get it at first. I was just sitting there looking up like wow. A lot of things were running through my mind, like how life is changing, it was crazy.

So did you get life changing money from the G-Unit deal?

Um yeah. Not like millions but yeah six figures

How did you even know where to send you demo?

Hot Rod:  It’s crazy because I’m in Arizona. Just to clear it up I was born and raised in Sacramento and I moved here with my brother to start doing mortgages with aspirations to get in the hip-hop scene. I was there for almost 4 years. I wanted to know the scene and there was this website 602street.com, it’s a local website, you hear about shows, artists from the area, it's like a community.

Somebody posted saying they were accepting demos for G-Unit, it was that dude Scott.

He's an engineer and he landed a job with G-Unit and he produces,  and he told Sha Money we had talent in Arizona and it would be a good move to sign someone from here.

Sha told him to play A&R, so he posted it on the website. He explained the whole story and they will get heard. A lot of the people on the site didn’t believe him and they were talking shit like why would somebody come herr to get a artist for G-Unit,  they could sign anybody. I’m more optimistic. I’m like fuck it ill send my demo. I sent him my cd. It got in the right hands obviously. It was like it was meant to happen. After me he started receiving hundreds of demos. Basically it was just crazy.

How was the chemistry with 50?

The chemistry was crazy I actually was influenced by how 50 made a record, not his content but the actual melody. I was inspired by how he made records. The demo was kind of tailored to him. I knew if he heard it he would like it. When he heard it he thought it was old shit that he had done or that he wrote.

50 writes a lot of hooks and they have a melody where a rapper might not be able to follow the melody so I was able to come in and follow the  melody exactly how he intended it to sound. I would come up with shit, he would come up with stuff and we liked what we were doing. The chemistry was great. He’s like Americas favorite gangster though and I’m like the opposite of that.

Sixshot.Com: Did you have a buzz in Phoenix before that?

Not really. There really was no scene in Phoenix. It wasn’t like ATL or H-town, where the whole state is poppin. It was an untapped market. Of course there's an underground scene.I was doing shows but people were checking for the show, so it wasn’t much.

The one problem with the Phoenix hip-hop scene is all the artists had their separate camps. They might be making some moves but the scene wasn’t all that. Everybody wants to be the first person; it’s like a competition. They wanna put Arizona on the map.

There must have been a lot of hate from the artists in Phoenix.

Oh yeah it was crazy, a bunch of hate from the artists and actually the favorite thing was that I wasn’t born and raised in Arizona. It doesn’t bother me. I got the support of the fans and my boys. They love it because they’ve been waiting so long for AZ to pop.

You’ve been signed for a while, where’s the album?

You know what’s funny? We finished the album pretty quick and we had the record, and we had Mary J Blige on it, and the expectations were super high for that record and it didn’t perform to those expectations. I wasn’t satisfied with the visuals.

The video, it was cool ,it made me a name, it set the tone, people know who I am but it wasn’t time for the album. I'd rather it come out on a real high note. Even 50 was like we can put it out, if you wan't to put it out let’s do it, but I was like nah. (Laughs) It’s wasn’t totally my decision but he woulda put it out. I didn’t wanna set myself up for failure. I didn’t feel like the buzz was right. It wouldn’t have made sense.

It did have a date though right?

 Right, it was supposed to come out November of last year but then the Young Buck album came and then it shifted to 50 mode and he started going hard so everything stops. The G-Unit album is coming out. I wanna come out after G-Unit; I think that would be a great set up.

Are you going to be on the G-Unit album?

Yeah I’m recording for it now. The release date is the 18th but I think its gonna get pushed back because everybody is on tour and I’m recording. 50, Banks, and Yayo are on the road and I’m supposed to be on a European tour coming up.

How is your relationship with the rest of the crew?

It's not like Banks, Yayo, and 50. Banks, Yayo, and 50 grew up together. That’s the original G-Unit. Our relationship isn’t anywhere near their relationship. It’s like a family.

When I first came in, it wasn’t directly coming off The Game situation but I could feel tension because it happened so fast. I’m in the office and people are like who’s this. They didn’t know my story so it was kind of bumpy, a little uncomfortable. Nobody knew who I was,  all they knew was 50 signed me.

I was attached at 50’s hip for 3 months, I was living with him and everybody wants to be on 50’s good side. And it wasn’t the artist but others people were kinda looking like why is 50 with Rod all the time? I guess they were a little jealous.

Do you think it was the same for Spider and Buck?

Maybe, maybe not as much. You know why? Because you look at G-Unit and they’re real aggressive street cats. I didn’t come in that street shit. I didn't come in like where the guns, where the weed at? I came on some cool shit. I had to earn my respect. I’m not on that street shit but I aint no pussy. It’s easy to come with street material and people respect you like 'Oh this shit is hard'. Spider and Buck are street niggas so they probably had an easier time fitting in on that aggressive level.

How would you describe your music?

I really focus it on music that makes you feel good. That’s what I listen to. Music that takes you away from the problems. I don’t wanna listen to problems on a record, I got my own problems. I don’t necessarily want to be educated on a record. I’m a fan of like Soulja Boy and that type of music that when it comes on you smile, you wanna move.

That’s my whole focus when I make records. That’s my main focus but I do have content but I don’t focus on that. It'll be records on the album, a couple records that might touch on some other issues. Mainly you could pop that album in like yo pop that hot rod in. Let's party, let’s chill. When they see me they say that’s a cool ass nigga right there.

How did industry cats react to you?

It was love outside the camp. I'm the reason The Game signed Juice. It was all because of me being on G-Unit. I guess he started to go at me and fuel this battle or this beef that wasn’t even there.

Now all of a sudden Juice will get mentioned when Hot Rod is mentioned. He was saying 'fuck Hot Rod'  and throwing verses at me. I was told that Game and his artist aren’t gonna go anywhere unless I take them somewhere by coming back. At that point I'm doing promos, I’m on BET, so he’s tryna start beef with me and every time they mention Hot Rod they mention Juice.

I never responded to him on record but we discussed it in person. We caught him at the barbershop and talked.

Was it a big shock going from sitting at a desk one day to being on TV the next?

Yeah, I wasn’t even ready for all that, it was so fast. I’m sitting there and I'm at a photo shoot like the second day and all these people are standing around watching me like 50 people and I’m thinking, why they’re looking at me right now? I had never done that. The photographer was like relax and I was like I’m not into this.

I remember hearing that you got signed, then shortly after I saw a picture of you with all the G-Unit clothes and the chain. I was like, damn, 50 must have had that stuff ready to go, like a G-Unit starter kit.

(Laughs) Well of course, the G-Unit clothing. It’s tons of it at the office so they just tell us pick out anything you want. The first night we were supposed to go the jeweler but he was out of town. We went the next day and got a rose gold watch. Actually 50 already had the piece and we were in the studio and he just threw me the chain and it was  real. And he just told me to take care of it.

Tell me about the joint you did with Papoose.

Well basically I just met up with Papoose and I had the mixtape coming out and I saw him. We said what’s up and took each others information and all that. I heard his shit and I thought he was hot. I was like lets do the "Black Republican" beat. I knew he was gonna go real hard so I was gonna have to say some hot shit, he was gonna go in.

I wrote mine and I laid it down. We didn’t lay it the same day. I’m sure he heard it. It was a hot record.

Aight man, go ahead and give your shout-outs. 

The G-Unit album coming soon, my album in '08. I got a European tour coming up next month. That's pretty much it. Ozone Magazine, Family Tree, the greatest management on the planet. http://www.myspace.com/hotrod.