Over the past few years Interscope has been cleaning house. With the recession and all of the cutbacks that major labels had to make in order to stay a float, many artists formerly signed to majors were left with no home and were forced to go independent. But while many were cut, others strategically remained in place in hopes that they would be able to realize the full potential they were initially expected to meet. Cashis is one of those artists.

Originally from Chicago, and signed to Shady Records, Cashis is one of the few remaining artists left on Shady Records, a lineup that only now only includes Eminem, D12 and 50 Cent. But why did they decide to keep Cashis? What was it that Eminem saw in this troubled rapper that could make him worthy of staying at Shady Records?

Beefs with Royce Da 5’9″, Freddie Gibbs, Chamillionaire, Game and the G-Unot camp, jail, drugs, having 11 kids and just wilding out in general, nearly put Cashis‘ career at a standstill. But he is emerging out of the clouds of smoke with a new state of clarity, which is clean and focused.

Cashis is ready to hit the game with some of the best music of his career. Coming out with music for 8 weeks in a row now, a new video and with his manager/long time friend and producer Rikanatti by his side, Cashis is ready hold of his career and the game. Take a look at AllHipHop.com’s up close and personal sit down with one of the game’s most intriguing spitters.

AllHipHop.com: So pretty much you are one of the few artists still signed to Shady Records?

Cashis: This is 100% correct.

AllHipHop.com: Can you talk to me a little bit about what that is like and how you feel about your experience at Shady Records thus far?

Cashis: It’s a real good feeling man. Being signed to Shady is a real good feeling. It feels good to me to have been here when things were going down and now still when things are going up, just I think for the loyalty that it shows. Because you know a lot of people counted us out and during that time we only got better. And I don’t mean by anyone leaving the label that we improved. Like Obie and Stat, I still consider them part of the team like to me they never left. You know I don’t handle anyone else’s business but from the friend and camaraderie side, nothing has changed and we all are part of the same squad still.

To me its good I can reach out from the personal and from the music side how to really deal with music and life a little bit and its made me mature being on Shady Records man. It’s real good on Shady man. I think it’s a blessing and that’s why I’m still here. Never leaving, never planned on it, never was even close to that.

AllHipHop.com: That’s what’s up man, its been a rough couple years in the music industry. There were a lot of rumors circulating Interscope and the state of the label. Can you talk about what it was like during that time and how that affected you?

Cashis: Yea I mean I was affected by random people asking me questions that had nothing to do with me and my name being out there in a place it wasn’t. It made me want to go in on my music and just show it wasn’t true what I can do, and I have contact with my label and I know what’s going on and I am glad I got a chance to put something out there.

AllHipHop.com: Yea in this industry not many people, even the artists sometimes understand that labels have a budget and that it’s a business.

Cashis: You can get X’d off a label, not because you are wack but just for budget reasons. Thankfully and luckily that didn’t happen for me because I keep us relevant with a buzz on the internet and on mixtapes and that’s what I do and my job. When Em comes out he makes a big splash. That’s a blessing and that’s what my job has been. To do whatever it takes to keep us visible, until it’s my time to come out. I knew as long as I did my part we were cool.

People think this is an emotional business and its really not. Me that’s what I thought and I used to act impulsively and on emotion and not act on strategy. But now it makes it more fun and more complex also. I know a lot of artists that are free agents that are cool artists, and its not because they aren’t talented. Its just because labels aren’t offering those big deals and people think its going to be a Bump J or 50 Cent type deal or some million dollar record deal. That was at a time when more people in the general society were spending more money and making more money. So you have to do what you can to keep yourself at a low cost to your label and to remain highly effective. People miss the real hip hop, but if you Hollywood with it and you think you gonna be sitting on 10, 15, 20k a month with Ferraris and you aren’t selling Ferrari numbers then you forever gonna be on that street corner, and life is short on that street corner.

AllHipHop.com: So you are originally from Chicago huh? Bulls fan, White Sox, Y’all just got Manny Ramirez.

Cashis: (Laughs) Oh yea 79th Street, South Side, Southeast Side. Definitely White Sox, Bulls and BlackHawks, everything man.

AllHipHop.com: Talk to me about how Chicago shaped your style and how you’ve taken it to the West coast.

Cashis: Well like Chicago inspired me as a person, that makes me who I am, is Chicago.I grew up listening to Phsyco Drama, and Twista, Crucial Conflict, Young Buk from Psychodrama, Common Sense and I kind of learned how to formulate my rhymes like that. Its more melodic with your voice but also like witty with your words. Its like that soul feeling and that zone where I can just mash out on a track or whatever.

AllHipHop.com: So you said that you pretty much have been wildin out in the music. Can you elaborate on what you meant by that?

Cashis: I was wilding out, and you can hear it in the music, you can see it in my face. And, I’m a big influence on a lot of people. A lot of times (pauses)… I believe that’s why I smoke weed, to maintain my sanity. Cause I’m always going through ups and downs, a lot. It’s crazy. So, that depression and that inner anger, that feeling of uncertainty, because whe I feel that uncertainty, and fear, I just get angry. I just don’t act out like a little kid. Or get nervous. You would never tell that, and you would have to know me, to understand that. Because that’s when I become completely irrational, and do some of the things that I may rap about. From that, I was a negative influence on my kids, my older and younger homeboy’s; my relatives. On everything. It was a part of me, and its in my blood, and musically, I had to change that, because that’s what came out.

Then it came to omitting the word ni**er. Not just from my normal vocabulary, because that is kind of hard for us to do, but as far as my lyrical content. Just musically, I won’t say it because I feel that I don’t need to say it. You know the crowds that opens up? The doors that opens up? Because, you know, I’m from Chicago man, and ain’t no way anybody black can roll down my hood singing, “Imma lay that ni**a out”. Cause its gonna be a problem. And not I’m saying that it should be a problem. I’m just saying that it could be a problem because that is just how people are.

AllHipHop.com: What, if any, is the projected release date on the album that your working on? Or are you just focusing on building up the buzz right now?

Cashis: The album is 75% done. This is my plan. I about to unveil my grand plan, just for ya’ll baby [in his Midwest accent]. My plan is just to go super hard. I went in super, crazy hard on this 12 song project that we putting out through Shady/Aftermath. This is all original material, and I gave my all on each record. From the production, to the A&R, I mean, everything lined up perfectly. And I honestly feel, that this is gonna destroy a lot of stuff. Honestly, I think, that if its tight enough, and the people want it, and they feel about it the way that I feel about it, I could just give them the top 5 songs off the CD, and package it up, and that can be a CD. I’m telling you! It’s real, and the music that I have been recording right now is just real.

AllHipHop.com: That’s what its all about. I think that even that way with my writing and stuff. I think that once I lose that love for what I do, its not the same. Its not what you originally started doing it for.

Cashis: Exactly. I started doing this for money. When I first started doing this, I was doing it for nothing. [sarcastically] And with that, I gotta bring a quarter pound of weed with me, 12 guns, 3 vest, and mob dudes giving out neckties, and I thought to myself…..wait a minute, wait a minute, I ain’t getting none of this money. Man, hell nah. That’s when my music started becoming better, and my music started becoming better. And, I started remembering this is what its about. Now that im starting to do better again, I still just focus on the music. When you take away the hype of it, and the publicity stunts, its just about the music.

AllHipHop.com: With that being said, what kind of stuff are you listening to?

Cashis: Man, I listen to…(pause), Honestly dog, I don’t listen to nobody. I listen to the stuff that I do. I mean, I do music so fast, and so much, that I don’t even have time to listen to my shit. I’ll record something, and for like 3 days, ill be rocking with it, and then it will be another studio session, and that’s old to me now, and I don’t care about it. If we in the car, and we may be going on a ride or something, I definitely bring that Twista, I listen to a lot of R. Kelly, cause he from my home. I bump a lot of Chicago shit, like Crucial Conflict, their second album, stays on repeat. A lot of Scarface. But I also ride out, and listen to a lot of old school R&B, like Frankie Beverly and Maze; all that music that was before me, but when I sit back and listen to it, it’s relaxing.

AllHipHop.com: Speaking of those dudes, do you still have any contact with G-Unit at all?

Cashis: Yeah, I mean everything is still cool. It was never like, we just hanging around each other all day everyday. But everything is still cool. It’s a business. I don’t know. I mean I’m on Shady. They do what they do. But its still like, we on the same team. I know when I came out, I thought it was like a gang. I’m like ” woo, woo, woo..” and chasing people out clubs, wearing G-Unot T-Shirts. And I got talking to my brother Kino, and he was like, “What are you doing? You putting your life on the line.” I was like “I’m riding.” But, you know, I still have a line of communication with them, but its not like we chilling together, or doing all that. I’m concerned about getting my money, and they concerned about getting they money too. They getting hot again, to where they trying to do a takeover. I’m doing the same thing. I don’t have all the bread they got, but I’m getting my money in, and I’m getting super hot. And it makes sense. Cause I don’t ever want to have to pay anyone to do a record with me. If I can do a record with Em, we just trade art. You respect me, I respect you. But I just want people to see that I’m going somewhere, and so that way, we can make some money to where it’s a favor for a favor.

AllHipHop.com: One of the things that I wanted to touch on throughout this interview is that whole situation. I know you were pulling people out with G-Unot T-Shirts and all. But this is the hip-hop game. People have beef. Can you talk about your beef with Freddie Gibbs, or Chamillionaire, or Royce da 5’9″?

Cashis: Alright. Let’s start with Royce. Man, straight up that was some bulls**t. Some weak ass shit. That’s crazy, cause I didn’t know. I was all Xanied out; not saying that I wouldn’t have did it sober, but I saw something when he called my man a cracker. I was like, “F**k you mean, ni**a, you with racism? F**k outta here homeboy!”. That s**t pissed me the f**k off. So, I probably would have done that s**t sober too. But, that was just me not having restraint. Cause I called to check and see what was going on. I didn’t know that the s**t was mad old, and all that. You know, and the end of the day, I just let it ride. I reached out to the muthaf**ka like, “Yo, what’s up with the record? ” But he respected it. But he also know ain’t no hoes over here. I ain’t scared of s**t. Not saying that Im the biggest, baddest, toughest muthaf**ka, but you wouldn’t be able to tell that. And I got a big ass family, and we go after it. But, he know I’d ride for him that same way. We ended up doing bomb ass music together. Now we on the same squad.

Now, Chamillionaire. I ain’t got no beef with Chamillionaire. We got a bomb ass record together too. He cooler than a muthaf**ka. I actually like his material. But, it was like, he had this video. And he was like “Cashis, how you man?”. He had this black dude in the video with white make-up on. Running around like, Cashis Bonds. And I had just came out, so I thought that it was distasteful. And my songs had already been released before that video came out. And I was like Cashis, that’s not your name, who are you dissing? And I had to call my manager at Suave House, like yo, homey, let him know. And Suave know how I am, and he was like whoa! It would have been a problem if I seen him on my scene. Cause I felt threatened. I am straight from the streets. I was like oh, you burning, you making jokes, and you got people laughing, using my name? Oh, I’m on you, dog. But I let him know, and his people said that it was no problem. But we reached out to each other, and did a record together with the homie Talito. It wasn’t like I was like I’m sorry, I was just like, yo let’s do some music. I just felt like we grown, and that was some bulls**t. If turned out to be good thing, which was a blessing.

As far as Freddie Gibbs, I don’t even know that dude. I don’t know. I don’t know what to say, like straight up. I wasn’t even aware of him until like 2 days before he dissed me. One of my A&R’s had hit me like won’t I do this record with this dude Freddie Gibbs. He is out of the Midwest and went to California like you. I’m like, okay, that’s what’s up. He from the Midwest, I’ll f**k with him. So, the next day I went in the studio, and laid down a dope ass record, and was gonna hand it over to him. The next day, I get an e-mail from my A&R like don’t do the record with the dude, and I look in the e-mail, and homie [Freddie Gibbs] is talking mad s**t in the e-mail.

And I’m like, Oh my God, that was the ultimate slap in the face, cause I’m really working harder than a muthaf**ka to be good. To do good. I been telling people that I don’t diss people in my music, I’m tryna stay out of jail. Then this dude come with that. So, I’m like alright. I didn’t know what to do, so I just won’t respond. Because he called me a buster, which means that he wasn’t talking about rapping. So, I’m not talking about rapping. So, he gone have to prove that I’m a buster. I ain’t gonna go looking for that ni**a, because I don’t know him. And I would have wished him the best, but it seems like we are cut from a similar cloth, or he’s mimicking. One of the two. Because we both have a Pac sort of influenced style. We both went from the Midwest to California. We both supposedly like guns and all this crazy s**t. So, either we are similar or someone is copying someone. And I know its not me, because I came out first.

I feel as though we should have done something to unify the Midwest. And to help them be stronger in California. I don’t bang any California gang, so I can go anywhere. I got a whole gang of Latino homies, I got a gang of homies from 60′s [*known Crip area], I got homies everywhere. From Bloods to Crips, I got a lot of homies, and I’m not even into that type of thing. I do my own thing. But you called me a buster; I got a 13 year old, a 12 year old, 11 year old. My kids read that. My momma read that. I got enemies that read that whom I probably did something to for less. As a man, that threatened me. You called me a buster. So, I would never threaten or respond in rap. Because, I don’t think that the people need that from me. I feel like the best way to address a hip-hop beef is to put out better music. And I know I put out way better music than Freddie Gibbs.

I mean, I am about to put out a dangerous album, that you [Freddie Gibbs] had a great opportunity to be a part of, and gets some fame off of. And I just don’t understand why someone would diss someone that is trying so much to change his ways. That’s like the devil. Satan. And for a minute I was playing Satan’s angel. Save other people dissing, cause for a minute, I was doing that. It got me nowhere. I got poor publicity, and it got me nowhere. And now I’m on the other side, so my karma is good. And I am never gonna reply back musically.

AllHipHop.com: Did any of the situations Eminem went through with his decision to go to rehab, did that influence your decision to change your life?

Cashis: No, because I didn’t know he was going to rehab. They kept it a secret from everybody. Because we used to talk everyday, than it became less and less. And I just thought that he was working, then he came out, and we talked about it, and it was so eye opening, and was like oh shit. But me, I used to go in the studio with like 80 valium, literally 80 valium, and record. And my speech used to be all slurred. Like, I couldn’t annunciate for nothing. What did it for me is that I kept getting in trouble. I kept getting cases, and it caused me to keep losing everything. I had looked up, and I had almost lost my family. My girl had came to me, and said look what you doing to yourself, baby. Like you don’t even know your kids, you don’t even know yourself. That’s not you. You becoming a walking zombie.

I just knew that I was moving too fast. You know, I was kind of hostile all the time. That ain’t a good influence on Eminem. Cause I’m sitting here popping pills, and he’s trying to get clean secretively. He can’t be around me, because I’m professing it. I got Xanax bars tattooed on me. I’m like we got them everywhere we go, pills by the hundred. Obviously, you would want that around someone who is trying there best to get clean. So, I started going through my own things, and started to get well. It just so happen that it was at a similar time that Em did. So, when I popped up in New York, and I was like what’s up, they were shocked because they could see a clear difference. And they were like, aww man, he’s back. Everything has been lovely every since then, and the music has been speaking for itself.

Article and interview by Jake Crates. Part 1 and Part 2 on AllHipHop.com

In an interview with MTV News Tony Yayo and Lloyd Banks talk Eminem‘s success with his number one record Recovery.

Tony Yayo: Eminem is like the godfather of the hip-hop game. In a time like this, when records are not selling, he’s the only one that is selling. You know, Drake and all the other ones [did well], but Em did [close to] 800,000 his first week, and he’s #1 for the fifth week. It’s incredible. I think he has a faithful fan base of people who have been following him for years. They’re not going to stop following him and not stop listening to his music. Em said he didn’t like his last album as much as this one. You can hear the difference. I like both of the albums. ’3 a.m.’ is one of my joints. But Eminem has followers that’s gonna mess with him until the day he dies.

Lloyd Banks: I feel like his music is getting more and more powerful, the messages are a lot bigger now, especially the first single [Not Afraid]. I just hope I get a record with him, real real soon… [laughs]

Days before his seventh album, Recovery, dropped, Eminem sat with VIBE for a short convo to talk about his rehab back in ’05, being snubbed by MTV and not competing on the “Forever” track. Check out the full interview after the jump!

VIBE: How’d you feel about the response to “Forever”?

Eminem: The response was great. I didn’t really look it like I’m competing against these guys. I’m on a record with them, but I just wanted to make a good song. Certainly, the response helped, as far as me being able to feel good about myself again. It took me so long to just even be able to do that. I was pretty down for a few years. I went through some things and not just with addiction, some personal setbacks and I was down. Just being able to get back up again feels good. I think everything played a factor of where I’m at now.

On Recovery, you have this one line on “25 to Life” where you talk about taking control of your relationship with hip-hop. How have you done that?

What the whole song is saying is that I have a strange relationship with hip-hop because I love it so much. I go through this thing in my head a lot, which I’m sure every rapper does, where you give your life to this thing. You literally give everything that you got. I come to work some days wearing the same thing two days in a row—baggy sweats—just dedicating my life to this. And there are times that I feel like I get the respect that I deserve and there are times where I feel like I don’t.

Like when MTV excluded you from their Hottest MCs of 2009 list?

That hottest MC list that I was left off, it was one of those things that I was glad that I am at where I’m at. I’m glad I’m in this place now, because a few years ago I would’ve let it bother me more than it did. I took it not as a slap in the face but more so like, “Maybe I’m not on that list for a reason. Maybe I’m not doing the things that I need to be doing. Maybe I need to look at myself and step it up.” I don’t know what I would have thought being in the mind state that I was in. I just felt like maybe I need to do better.

As a person, are you proud of yourself?

I handle things a lot differently now. I’m proud to be able to say that I’m an addict without any shame in it. I’m proud that I’m able to admit that I have a problem with a certain thing and I have to leave it alone and accept it. I’m proud that I’m strong enough to be able to walk away form those things.

When did you realize that? During rehab? Therapy?

I got some tools in rehab when I went in 2005. I got the tools that I need, I just didn’t use them. I got the information, the analysis—I don’t know if that’s the word—of my personality. What type of person I am, why I have this addictive behavior, why I need instant gratification from certain things, why I feel a certain way because my childhood was this way or that way. I got all of those tools, which made me understand why I had to leave that stuff alone. But I didn’t use it and that’s why I went back to it.

Why did you decide not to release the songs you’d planned for Relapse 2?

On a record like the new record, when I mention the third verse of “Talking to Myself,” I try to sum up the last two records in a nutshell. Mr. Porter, who produced “On Fire,” had this analogy of Encore and Relapse that stuck with me: “Encore I was on drugs, Relapse I was flushing them out.” His view on Relapse was that I was flushing the drugs out my system and looking back at it, I probably was. My mind was coming back, my writing skills were coming back, so I was able to write again because I had writer’s block from the pills. I was backed up. I was writing so much and so quickly that I didn’t have a chance to stop and say, Are these good songs? Are they great songs? I was just going. I was like, ‘I got so much material for three albums, but let’s narrow it down to two. Let’s put out Relapse 2 months later. That was the original plan. There are so many drug references on the last album; that’s just where my head was at. I came to life again and everything was like new. When they say ‘in recovery’ or ‘in rehab’, it’s like being born again when you get clean and sober. You start appreciating shit that you never thought you would appreciate, like, ‘Wow, look at those trees. Look at nature.’ Before, it didn’t matter. I just started appreciating things more. I got happy when I got sober, broke free from the chains—not to sound corny. I broke free from the chains of addiction and it was just like ‘Ahh, I’m happy again. I’m not a prisoner.’ I was just happy to be back.

This monday, The New York Times released an interview they did with Marshall Mathers. Eminem speaks on soberness, his Artist of The Decade Award, why he doesn’t like to tour and more.

Does Slim Shady, your raping and killing alter ego, still exist? Or have you split with him?
Shady still exists. But I don’t think the subjects on this record call for, you know, bring the chainsaws and axes out and murder everyone on this record. There was so much stuff like that off the last record that I felt like I was starting to run it into the ground. I think consciously I went in a different direction with this record.

What does the title of your album refer to? What exactly are you recovering from?
Vicodin, Valium and Ambien, and toward the end, which caused my overdose, methadone. I didn’t know it was methadone. I used to get pills wherever I could.I was just taking anything that anybody was giving to me.

Where did you go to rehab?
The first time I went it was in Brighton, Mich. The second time I didn’t go to rehab. I just went to a regular hospital. I detoxed in the hospital, and then I came home. I couldn’t go back to rehab. I felt like I was Bugs Bunny in rehab.

What does that mean?
When Bugs Bunny walks into rehab, people are going to turn and look. People at rehab were stealing my hats and pens and notebooks and asking for autographs. I couldn’t concentrate on my problem.

Billboard magazine has ranked you as the best-selling artist of the past decade.What do you do with all your money?
Save it. I save a lot of money by not buying drugs anymore. I invest. I always try to be smart. I try to treat all the money I’m making like it’s the last time I’m going to make it.

Do you think rap has peaked creatively?
No. Hip-hop right now – there are certain artists who put hip-hop in a good state. There are a lot of talented people, and there’s a lot of young talent coming up, like B.o.B, Jay Electronica, Lupe Fiasco and Drake.

Why haven’t you planned any kind of big tour for your new album,other than two concerts with Jay-Z in September?
Touring is hard on the body.It used to be a big trigger for me with drinking and drugging.

Full story.

Guess what? 50 Cent looks actually normal! In the interview above Big Greg caught up with 50 Cent backstage at his Detroit show to talk about his weight loss and his interest in films.

In related news, the G-Unit general talked about his upcoming project, Black Magic. Although he isn’t sure that the album will be called Black Magic hundred percent, he says that the project got a “soulful vibe”.

Full Rap-Up interview with 50 Cent

Props to Raphael from France!

Check out Eminem‘s interview with Skyrock FM from France below! He talked about the features with Lil Wayne, Pink and Rihanna on Recovery, the “Not Afraid” video and more.

Skyrock interviews Eminem

In a recent interview with XXL Tony Yayo talks about being independent, 50 Cent planning a comeback for G-Unit and more.

Yayo said when he first got the news, it hit him hard. “When we got dropped from Interscope it was like, ‘Aww, man,’ “ he shared. “It was like you know a crushing thing. You know, when you used to being on top and now you feel like, for me, you’re feeling like you on the bottom.”

The G-Unit soldier revealed that 50 Cent is prepping a comeback. “God works in mysterious ways and good things is happening now,” he said. “The new opportunities are coming. I don’t wanna talk too much about them either ’cause I don’t wanna ruffle any feathers or anything, but 50 is definitely bringing G-Unit back to where it needs to be.”

“We was gonna go the independent route, ’cause we put out ‘Beamer, Benz or Bentley,’ all that’s independently,” he added. “That’s with no machine.” But it seems like Fifty has something else up his sleeve.

Meanwhile, Yayo says he didn’t leave Interscope empty handed. “When I got dropped, I’m not gonna front. I was a little down about it,” he explained. “It’s not like it was because of the money, because Interscope, they advanced me for my second album. So I got money that I didn’t even deserve…but it’s just the whole thing of being dropped and everybody looking at you.”

Thisis50 recently sat down with D12‘s Bizarre.

He talks about his funny sense of humor, speaks on his new album Friday Night At St. Andrews, Will we see the comedy side of Bizarre on his new album? Will there be a new D12 album? He also speaks on how the Proof situation affected him and the group overall and much more!

Also Bizarre says what he would do in certain bizarre/wierd situations… “That’s Bizarre!”

Eminem discussed his new single “Not Afraid” from Recovery and speaks on becoming artist of the decade with Shade 45‘s Angela Yee.

He confirmed producers such as Just Blaze, Dr. Dre, DJ Khalil, Mr. Porter, Boi-1da, Jim Jonsin and what’s new: Mobb Deep‘s Havoc, for his new album. According to Em, there will be just music on the album, no skits.

Download: Eminem Interview + “Not Afraid” On Shade 45