September 27, 2005

Tony Yayo Says He Wishes He Had Outdone Kanye, 'But I'm #1 In The 'Hood'

By Shaheem Reid (MTV.com)

Who says gangstas don't dance? Tony Yayo is down with one of the hardest cliques in rap and says there's nothing wrong with enjoying yourself.

"A lot of artists, when they do their music and come aggressive, they put on the screw face and never have no fun. I like to have fun, man. I'm not gonna walk around with the screw face. I like to smile, joke, have fun and dance. But don't think anything funny about it. Don't think anything's sweet or peaches-and-cream."

Yayo actually has a signature dance he calls "The Tony Yayo," for which he waves his hand in front of his face. You probably caught him doing it at this year's VMAs or in his new video for "Curious." Although the movement looks strikingly similar to WWE heavyweight champ John Cena's "You can't see me" move, Yayo says he came up with it after hanging with 50 Cent's little boy, Marques.

"Me and 50's son created that when I was on the run," he explained. "I had nothing better to do. I was in the house, and we was playing around."

Now that he's on parole, Yayo says he can move around, but his five parole officers keep close tabs on him and sometimes make life difficult.

"I think if I was down with Kanye West or Common Sense, I could do more," he said. "But you look at 50 Cent, G-Unit, [Lloyd] Banks, [Young] Buck, we're an aggressive rap group, and the media is hyping things up. Me getting out of jail, it's always a problem for me. Every time 50 is in the paper, parole thinks twice. It's a difference for me."

Yayo recently went head-to-head with Kanye when their albums were released the same day. West debuted in the top slot with Late Registration, while Yayo's Thoughts of a Predicate Felon bowed right below.

"I wanted the number to be a little bit better," he said. "Number two is cool, but I want that #1 spot. Shout out to Kanye, he got the #1, I got #2. But I'm #1 in the 'hood."

As for his squad, Yayo says G-Unit just collaborated for a mixtape catered toward the 'hood and have an LP - as do Mobb Deep and M.O.P. - coming down the pike.

"We're all in the studio," Yayo said. "It's crazy. You've got [Prodigy], Billy [Danzenie], [Lil'] Fame. Me and Banks might be laying our verses and [Havoc] and P go do something in another studio and run back. Everybody was working. Mobb Deep got their album done, M.O.P. is working on their album, we got a soundtrack done. It came to a point where I was getting mad. I was trying to get some studio time and Banks is in there. Come back the next day, Hav is in there, Buck is in there. These dudes is beasts. We love making music. It's not like there is a pressure on us, we [just] love vibing."

Yayo's next single is going to be "I Know You Don't Love Me" with 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks and Young Buck.