Lupe Fiasco (left) & GemStones (right)

Back again with Part TWO of our EXCLUSIVE Interview with 1st & 15th’s GemStones! In order to save you some scrolling, and in case ya just missed it or want to refresh your memory, CLICK HERE FOR PART 1, where GemStones describes how he met Lupe Fiasco, the state of hip hop today and in the future, his musical and outside inspirations, AND MORE! Without further adieu, check out the rest of the interview below!

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GWHH: Well you also touched on this a little earlier about the influence Chicago has had on hip hop, but how has living and growing up in Chicago influenced your work specifically, and can you really see that influence in not only your music but in the music of your fellow Chicago artists as well?

GS: Umm, because it’s real man. With my experience coming up in Chicago, I wasn’t handed anything. So it kind of makes it like, you can’t enjoy the sweet without the bitter, you got to take the bitter with the sweet. The sweet wouldn’t feel so good, wouldn’t taste so good, if it wasn’t for the bitter. You know what I’m sayin? Like, the joy wouldn’t feel so good if it wasn’t for the pain. So I do what I do and take the bitter with the sweet, and mix it all up, like lemonade. So, it’s like that right? If you come up in Chicago, you got the skills. Maybe it’s like this in every other city, I don’t know cuz I’m not from the other cities, but in Chicago, it was hard coming up. Nothing was given to you. You had to go get it. So, now that I got it, it’s like.. I put it in my music. I couldn’t fake it when I put my album together, I couldn’t get on wax and lie about things I didn’t have and things that I didn’t do. I gotta tell my story; I have to influence the people. I know I’m a role model. So I have to play that role. I know kids in the younger generations is looking up to me and I couldn’t lie man. This is my testimony. This is my testimony. I gotta testify. I gotta tell it man. That’s why my album is named Troubles Of The World because of Chicago – what Chicago did to me. Chicago created a monster. I don’t mean it in a bad way though. Like a machine, Chicago, built like me? It’s crazy. I thank Chicago though for not giving it to me because I probably wouldn’t have known what to do with it if I had had it. Like, I’m glad I’m not rich yet. I think if I got rich tomorrow, I would know what to do with my money. But had I got rich at 21, there’s no tellin’ where I’d be right now. Like what would I do with 10 million right now? Like, I’m glad I was not rich because I woulda been a monster. I didn’t know. I came up and I didn’t have, so when I got it I woulda just blew it. But now that I went through the hurt, I went through the pain, I know what it feels like not to have, so when I do get, I’m going to treat it like it’s my last. Treat my last like my first and treat my first like my last. You know what I’m sayin? And Chicago did that to me. So that’s the impact Chicago had on me, like Chicago and the streets period. Everything from the museum to the walk to the park, just growing up in Chicago. It is still embedded in me and it molded me into the beast I am today. And when you guys hear my album, that is due to drop this year – Troubles Of The World – cuz they’re my troubles, they’re your troubles. At the end of the day, we all equal. We all go through the same problems. We all hurt, we all see, we feel, touch, sense them. The 5 senses, like all that. We do the same thing, we just at different parts of the world, just all walks of life, but we all share the same experiences and that’s why I named it Troubles Of The World. Because everybody can relate to it – whether you’re white, black, purple, orange, green, I don’t care what your race is. You can relate to it if you’re human. And it’s like we all go through these troubles. And it’s just real. It’s talking about issues with your mother, with your son, with your niece, your nephew, just the birds and the bees, talking about sex, just everything. And when you hear it, they’re going to be like, they know this guy personally, how does this guy know my life? This is real.

GWHH: Yeah, I like that. I like that. I’m looking forward to it. So another thing to look forward to is your new mixtape, you mentioned it briefly earlier. Could you tell us a little bit about that?

GS: Oh yeah yeah! My new mixtape is entitled The Testimony Of GemStones that is about to drop in about 2 weeks. But I will I have that, FREE, downloadable on my myspace page which is www.myspace.com/fnfgemini and it will basically.. It’s like orientation. It like gives you a sample before the album. Like in school, they give you an orientation before you go to high school. Just what it’s like or whatever. So it’s like orientation before my album come – it’s like a sneak preview of the album, what your facing, what’s about to go on. It’s like a diluted version of the raw dope. It’s like I didn’t want to give you top ten crack. I kinda want to lean you on to it at first so you can understand it, you know what I’m sayin?

GWHH: Yeah, yeah, so it’ll kinda like build the buzz for it, right?

GS: Yeah yeah yeah. So when the album do come, you can understand me even more. Like ok, then you can go back like, ‘Oh, it’s his mixtape! I remember on his mixtape he was like, Oh! That explains a lot of this stuff’, you know what I’m sayin? The Testimony Of GemStones – basically I’m just testifyin’ on everything and then when the album come, these are the Troubles Of The World. This is what I gotta testify about. I’m talkin’ about anything that you wanna hear, for my FNF fans, who follow 1st & 15th since day one, like I’m speaking on these questions, I’m answering questions that you prolly never asked and I’m testifyin’ on everything and it’s real. It’s crack and oh, it’s ridiculous. And I’m not just sayin’ it cuz it’s mine. Lupe heard it and went crazy, like ‘Oh My G*d!’

GWHH: Hahaha, awesome. That’s awesome.

GS: Lupe been braggin’ to all his homies like, ‘Yo, GemStones’ mixtape, that’s where it’s at’ Like I didn’t tell those guys. Everything that’s coming back to me is off Lupe’s word. Like, ‘Yo man, we gotta hear this mixtape! Lupe’s going around tellin’ everybody..’ I just played a few songs for Lupe and he was like, ‘Whoa!’ Like, for real, like Lupe heard it and went back and then spread the word, like my artist about to bring something that’s so ugly. Lupe know! He know! It’ll be up on all the sites – all the sites that’s up on the internet where the mixtapes are – like I’m goin’ to have it on all the sites, whoever want it, they can get it. It’s gon’ be there.

GWHH: Alright, cool. Yeah, we’ll definitely post it up too. Yeah, now, more specifically, are the songs kinda like the songs you did for Untamed Beast? Or is it more like “Good Morning”?

GS: Oh yeah, I shoulda spoken that. Like Untamed Beast was like Gemini. Like my whole thing now is to show how I’ve evolved. Like I’ve evolved, how I’ve grown as an artist, as a person. Like that Gemini thing, that was rapper. It was talented, like beast, top 10, like ahhh! That was Gemini. That was that Gemini era. That was for the rappers. That was me as a rapper, but I’ve evolved from that. I did the braids, I did the heavyset. That’s why I lost the weight, I cut the braids off. And the name is gone now. There is no more Gemini. Gemini is dead. And I’m explaining that on the new mixtape. And it’s just showing my growth as an artist. How I can rap about something – turn the negative into a positive and still have the same impact on the same people. And when you can do that, you got it, you know what I’m sayin? Cuz if you can take a song like degrading the women and you got thousands goin’ crazy, cheerin’ you on about degrading the women. And you can turn around, and do the same song over the same, but this time you’re apologizing for doing that. So I’m just basically turning my negatives into positives. And showin’ that I’ve grown as a person. You do things when you was young, like, you do in your life when you was young that now that you was grown, you wouldn’t dare do cuz you were young then. It was your past. And like that Gemini mixtape was my past and I’m apologizing to my fans for certain things that I’ve said on there because I was just oblivious to certain things then. But now I’ve grown as a person and now I’m going to give it to you. Like “Good Morning”? “Good Morning” was the first jumpoff track. ‘Good morning. Wake up. Get off up your grandmomma’s sofa. Jobs is open, because they ain’t got no role models to coach them.’

GWHH: Alright, that’s cool. That’s cool. So I also read that there’s a DVD that comes out with the mixtape? Could you talk a little bit about that?

GS: Oh yeah yeah. That’s why I pushed the mixtape back. Just so you can come into my life, so you can understand my world, from all I go to, the blocks I be on, catch me in the studio, how we record in the studio, just old footage of me and Lupe back before we had our mustaches. Back when I first met him in ’01, back when we was young, that was almost ten years ago. Just a lot of footage, a lot of footage from tour. “The Cool” tour, I just got off “The Cool” tour with Lupe where we had a sold out tour all over the world. I got footage of “The Cool” tour. I got footage with MTV: The Diary. The “We On” video is going to be on my new mixtape. It’s crazy. We puttin’ this out worldwide. This mixtape is going to be out all over the world. We bout to push this, and then I got a Part 2! I just wanna keep my name buzzing, I wanna keep it fresh. You got some artists come out and you be like, ‘Whatever happened to him? Why did he stop?’ I’m going to keep pumping music, keep coming to these sites – these hip hop websites and I’ma keep givin’ ‘em verses and give them whatever they wanna hear. Throw it up on their boards, like keep the people talkin. I’ma finna make a big impression on the game. Watch. It’s time right now man, it’s time.

GWHH: Yeah, you mentioned about the tour. Could you talk about your experiences there on a sold-out tour? Prolly one of the biggest tours so far in ’08.

GS: Ok man, “The Cool” tour was everything I thought it was that I saw comin’ up as a shorty on TV – like Michael Jackson, live on stage, lookin’ on BET, the Grammys – like it was that.. times 10! Like that times 10! Like actually living it. I’m on stage performing in front of 10,000 people chanting and they all chanting your name at one time. Like you was just somewhere in your mother’s basement chillin’ with nobody knowing your name, then you’re off in New Zealand – 5,000, 6, 7, 9, 10,000 people chanting your name that you don’t even know! They don’t even speak English, you know what I’m sayin? It’s crazy. It’s crazy. It’s a rush, like the first time I’ve ever been on a tour bus. We had like 2 big screen tvs, man the whole tour bus thing, planes everyday. No sleep, gettin’ like 3 hours of sleep, wakin’ up, leaving clothes behind in your hotel room, because you don’t wanna be over at the airport. Like they chargin’ you extra, buying clothes, food, gettin sick because you’re going to different climates. It’s crazy. Tour was crazy. House of Blues, sold out every night! I did Lollapalooza, I did the BET Awards. I used to sit at home and just dream of that. And for me to actually be on BET, walking on the red carpet and posin’, like it was crazy. And then you got a 6:30 flight in the morning, flying to Arizona somewhere! To rock it in front of 10,000 – they be screamin, ‘Lupe! Lupe! GemStones! GemStones!’ Signing autographs, women trying to get back to your hotel room with you, they grabbin’ you and screamin, like ‘Oh My G*d’ it was crazy. It was crazy.

GWHH: Heh, that’s awesome. And now that the Glow In The Dark Tour has started, are you going to be followin’ them a lil’ bit for a couple shows?

GS: Yeah, yeah. I’m goin’ out on certain dates on the Glow In The Dark Tour. Like Lupe’s time, on Lupe’s tour it was 2 hours, and now his time is cut to like 30 minutes. He sharin’ time now with Pharrell and Rihanna and Kanye – they all gotta share, so everybody got like 30 minutes and Lupe’s doin a whole nother selection of songs. And I’m goin to do certain songs on certain dates, but for the most part I’m just out here and recordin’ and gettin’ my mixtape ready cuz I’m stayin’ home and doin’ my homework. I could be out on tour, but I’ve experienced tour already, but I’ma go back out with them, but I wanna get my homework done so when it’s my time to step up to the bat, when it’s GemStones’ time, I got all my homework done and I’m not lackin’ because I’ve been out on tour havin’ fun and runnin’ and jumpin’, you know what I’m sayin? So, I do my homework and turn it in and get this A+ when the album come out.

GWHH: And yeah, yeah. I wanted to ask for the readers, uhh, any crazy, funny stories that you had throughout the experience of the tour? Just anything that may be a funny story for people to read, on tour, or anything really?

GS: Aw man. My manager. We flew to Australia for MTV: The Diary and we made a bet, like the dumbest bet in the world. We went to this cliff. Like, this cliff is so high. I’m talkin, that on the way up, you see signs that say ‘No Jumping, No Divin’ and there’s sharks in the water, it’s just Australia. You know, me and Lupe punk’d out though. Like we had a bet, like who would jump? Like this cliff, when I tell you this cliff was high, this cliff was so high! And it was cold outside, like 30 degrees outside and we pumped my manager up. We pumped him up and he jumped off the cliff into the cold water. And me and Lupe punk’d out and didn’t do it. Like, ‘Wow. Did he just do it? Did he just? Did he just? I’m not goin’ in that water!’ He swam tho. He did it. Like he jumped off the cliff. That was the wildest thing that happened on the tour.

GWHH: Hahah, wow. That’s crazy. So yeah, do you get a chance to take in the sights in every city you go to on tour?

GS: Yeah yeah. Everytime we get to a city, that’s one thing we do. We go find their clothing stores. We get there the day before or the day of at the venue. So we get there early. So me and Lupe and the rest of the crew like we would go out and sight, to the mall, just walk around, just walk and get lost so that night, when the show happen, we have a little history on their city and know what we sayin’ on stage, you know what I’m sayin? Ooh, I got another funny moment that did happen. My DJ Simon, I think we was in Boston and the curtains open up, and he says, ‘Detroit, make some mothafuckin’ noiiiiissssee!!’

GWHH: Hahah, did he get a lot of crickets?

GS: Yeah, oh yeah! That was funny as hell. So yeah, we go sight seeing and do our homework, so that night we get to the venue, talk to the crowd, and they wonder how we know this, but, we go sightseeing in every city. We go to the store and buy gym shoes and clothes. And we go to Portland. And it’s like the Jordan Headquarters is in Portland. They gave us so much stuff. Like we couldn’t even take it back on the road with us. Like it was so many pairs of shoes and shirts and socks and drawers, and it was crazy. We had to leave some of the stuff at the hotel. Like I would wear the shoes once and leave them at the hotel or give them to somebody. But yeah, it was fun it was fun. But we definitely go sightseeing. Last place I went was Canada and that was my first time ever going to Canada. We was in Toronto.

GWHH: Alright, well, that’s pretty much all I got. I guess the last question I got for ya, just any shoutouts for anyone? What’s the big plans for GemStones and 1st & 15th for 2008?

GS: Aw man, 2008. Yeah, first for 1st & 15th. Every artist on the label, put every artist’s album out that’s on the label. We want to get every artist out there – it’s their time to shine and we want to put all they albums out this year. Matthew Santos, Shayla G, Sarah Green, Soundtrakk, uhh, get this GemStones project Troubles Of The World – it’s going to be big! I wanna say Free Chilly! My homie Chilly, he’s locked up right now. And thank God for everything. Thank God for everything, I thank God for everything that’s going on right now, and keep it movin’ man, just much success and just hope and just pray that we all stay together as a family man, and can keep giving ya’ll beautiful music and stay in love with everything that’s going on right now, and not follow and not play monkey see, monkey do with the rest of the game, you know what I’m sayin’? Keep the music fresh!

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Yeah, yeah yeah! I hope you enjoyed Part 2 of our EXCLUSIVE Interview with GemStones! Another special thank you to GemStones for all his time and cooperation throughout the interview process for making this all possible! Big ups to you GemStones and we wish ya nothing but success in your bright future.

And again, in case you missed Part 1 (which you may have since our site is still transferring to the new layout you see before you now) simply…

CLICK HERE!

Don’t forget to check out GemStones on his MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/fnfgemini and keep it locked 2 GWHH for the upcoming mixtape, The Testimony Of GemStones! To hold you over until then, here are a couple of NEW tracks featuring GemStones! You read what he had to say, now hear what he had to say! DL the trax below (and leave us some comments!) Enjoy!

GemStones “Everything’s Okay” f/ Bishop G

FULL, CLEAN, Track off upcoming mixtape, The Testimony Of GemStones (Wow @ GS’ ending!) *Tibs Fav.

DP Da Phranchise “The City” f/ GemStones

FULL, CDQ, Mite actually be old, but a great ode 2 Chicago track w/ GemStones on the hook! *Tibs Fav.

Interview conducted by Sgt. Tibs