MUSIC VIDEO: Big K.R.I.T. - Country S*** (Remix) feat Ludacris & Bun B
This is like a dope country version of Juvenile's "Ha" video.
This is like a dope country version of Juvenile's "Ha" video.
Usually, the only time you hear the word “marriage” in Hip Hop is when a rapper is talking about being married to the game, married to the money, married to the music or some other non-human entity. Once every blue moon you’ll hear a rhyme about a down ass chick or a ride or die broad, but it’s rare that you’ll hear the word “wife” uttered out of a rappers’ mouth. For some reason, talking about marriage in a music that is roughly 30 years old now is still a risk.
OZONE caught up with Bun B, E-40 and Paul Wall to find out how they’ve balanced their marriages with their successful careers. Each of them are at different stages of their marriages and offer different perspectives and stories of the celebrations and challenges that have greeted them along the way.
How long have you been married?
E-40: We’ve been together 19 years. I was with her before rap. We’ve been together since the summer of 1984. We were teenagers. I played in the marching band at Franklin High School and she was at Vallejo. I always had my eye on her and vice versa and we became a couple. She was there when I was just Earl. She’s been my backbone, my rib. We were living off of love, man. We’ve been together all these years with no fall outs in between, not even a day brah.
Bun B: We are going on 8 years of marriage. We were together for 12 years. We got where I wanted to be financially so that we could get married. We wanted to have a real nice wedding without doing what most young couples do and spend all the money on the wedding and leave nothing to start off with. We wanted to celebrate doing everything the right way and set an example for our kids. We didn’t want them to grow up and be shacking up.
Paul Wall: We’ve been married for 5 years. We’d already been together for a while. Our bond together got stronger when we got married though. She was already my best friend, someone I talk to every day and don’t get tired of. When we got married, our bond just got unbreakable. We got closer.
Do you have your wife involved heavily in your career? Has it ever been an issue as far as time spent at home as opposed to being out working?
E-40: She used to come to the studio with me a lot. But when I started putting a lot of hours in and we had two sons, the kids had her occupied being a mom. I’m not trying to make it look like a perfect picture, but it was. We had hard times, I had my ups and downs before rap, you take your lumps financially, but once I got on, I felt I wasn’t gonna take my foot off the industry’s neck. That’s why I’ve been going hard all these years. But with me and her and the obstacles, she was there when I had funk in the hood. She was just down. I don’t have no complaints. She ain’t one of those materialistic broads. She’s strong. She’s a year younger than me, but we’re cut from the same cloth. We come from a good tradition; we’re from the old school.
Bun B: My wife is highly involved. A lot of the decisions I’m making at this point of my career have a lot to do with where I want her and my family to be. My wife has a good ear for things that ladies like, what women listen for in music. She is built differently from other women. She’s seen a lot of things in her time so I can talk to her about a lot of things like life and current events. She keeps me balanced.
Paul Wall: When I met her, she was a singer in Houston locally, just trying to make it on the Houston scene. She sounded really good on the Swishahouse mixtapes and she was doing stuff for Lil Keke. So she’s already creative. She’d come to the studio with me sometimes, hear a beat and come up with an idea for something. She really helped me out on a song I recorded with Trina once. Even though she wasn’t singing on it, she had good ideas for me. I’m a prude, so I try to stay away from getting too explicit. So she has to encourage me to rap a little dirty sometimes.Do you try to keep them near you often? Like take them on the road with you a lot?
Bun B: Sometimes it feels weird when my wife is not around. I get to go to a lot of places and do a lot of things that most people never get to do or see. So more than anything I want my wife to be around to experience those things too. I want to experience those things with someone I can talk about it with 10-15 years from now.
E-40: I just try to take her to the right shit. When I perform, I perform in some of the grittiest clubs, and the nicest arenas. I don’t want to put her in harm’s way, because we all know, this is rap music. I don’t look for trouble, but trouble can find you sometimes. I try to keep her out of the clubs, but I take her to the arenas and the nice clubs. I just try to make the best decisions so I can make sure somebody is there for my kids if something ever happens to me. If I’m on the road for 2 weeks, I’m going to fly her out, or have her on the bus with me. Or I’ll fly home on in-between down days when nothing’s going on.
Paul Wall: She comes with me a lot. She brings the kids too. Family is a big part of my life. Being away makes it hard for me. Any tour I go on, she won’t be there the whole time, but she’ll be there for portions of it.What would you say is one of the best decisions your wife helped you make?
Bun B: If you ask her, she’ll probably say everything. (laughs) But the best decision my wife helped me make was just her being by my side. Especially when I was going through a lot of things with Pimp C being locked up. That was a lot to go through financially, spiritually and personally. She never gave up on me. I was under the impression that UGK would fall apart when Pimp got locked up; a lot of us were. I fell into a very dark place and did a lot of drinking. I wanted to sit back and feel sorry for myself. That was the turning point in my career. From that point on when I decided to not let that situation beat me and defeat me, my career took off musically and we achieved financial prosperity that we have never achieved before.
E-40: Just being there. She ain’t know what I was gonna be. All I did was write raps, but she never knocked me. My brothers always tell me that. She never knew what I was gonna be, but she was always there.
Paul Wall: I can’t think of anything specific, but I know it’s been a few occasions though. Sometimes when I get writer’s block I’ll ask her for help. Like this one time when I was doing a song for Colby O’Donis. When I got the beat, it was jamming, but I couldn’t come up with nothing. She started freestyling and some of the things she said got me going. Next thing I knew the flame was sparked and I wound up laying down two verses to the song.Have female friends, groupies or just too many women being around ever been an issue in your relationship?
Bun B: I don’t play when it comes to respect when my wife is concerned. For a while I would tell people to just keep all women away from me. But my wife said I can’t do that because a lot of women are fans of mine. She told me I had to learn the differences between a groupie and a fan. She said, “A groupie wants to hold you and fan wants to hug you.” She said I can’t penalize fans for what groupies do. But we’ve only had 3 instances in 12 years when somebody disrespected.
Paul Wall: Not really. Even when it comes to girls in the video, she makes friends with them. Or she might pull me to the side and say, “She’s ugly. Take her out of the video.” It’s funny how she be on the set doing that. But all the women usually flock to her. Even when we in the clubs, the women always go to her. They don’t even be worrying about me. Based on what I have seen though, a lot of people like to be messy. I’m honest and faithful to my wife. If I wasn’t faithful that would be a problem. I think being faithful is a big part of the success of our relationship.Do you think marriage will ever become more acceptable to rap about?
E-40: This game is like making movies, but people take music literally. When you rap about something, people say you ain’t doing that. Me personally, I make songs about my wife. I just did a song called “All I Need.” If you came in the game real mannish, people want to see you stay that way lyrically. I’ve got a young and old audience so I have to mix it up. At the end of my day I go home to my wife. Now I’ve said some slick crazy shit in my songs, but my wife knows that I come home to her. She knows this is just my occupation.
Paul Wall: It’s entertainment, so I don’t know. It’s like a secret society. Once I got married, I started noticing that a lot of other people in the industry were married too. Before I was married, I didn’t know that a lot of my friends were married. They introduce me to their wives now. I guess people are protective of their personal lives.
Bun B: People tend to not focus on marriage and family in Hip Hop. Male artists who have a lot of female fans have images to uphold. When they say they’re married, that kinda puts a block between them and the fan. You still want them to scream for you. But that’s just not in Hip Hop, that’s the entertainment industry period. Look at how Usher’s career was affected. Women didn’t feel they could have him anymore.Do any of you have advice for other rappers thinking about getting married, or even rappers who are married and might not be enjoying it?
E-40: If you find a good one, you probably want to stick with her. It’s not about glamour. You want somebody who’s gonna be there for you. Everybody’s got a main squeeze. If you find a good woman and she’s in your heart, stick with her. Don’t get caught up in all this industry shit, man. Find a down to earth female. Different strokes for different folks, but my advice is if you find a good one keep her.
Bun B: I get calls from younger rappers making the transition. I’ve talked to Wale, Dizzie Rascal and I talk to ESG and Paul Wall on the regular. All I have to tell you is don’t do it unless you are sure. Don’t get married out of convenience, that’s the last thing you want to do. There’s nothing worse than being an unsure married person.
Paul Wall: Keeping your faith in God is a big part of it. I would encourage people not to do it if you’re not ready. Some people do it too soon, and some wait too long. If you think it’s meant to be, do it. But the biggest part of it is being faithful. If you are unfaithful, it makes it hard and it makes [your spouse] very insecure. //Words by Maurice G. Garland
via ozonemag.com
DJ Cotton presents - Kusch Melodics Vol. 1 (Music Make Me High)
DOWNLOAD LINK: http://www.sharebeast.com/h3ef3aj34tkq
No I do not smoke or drink and never have. This is just a mix I made for my homegirl. I actually use it to go to sleep with lol.

http://allhiphop.com/stories/features/archive/2008/02/25/19311891.aspx
By Chuck "Jigsaw” Creeekmur Pimp C does not define Bun B, but the tragic death of latter’s