G-Dep, the rapper best known for his single “Let’s Get It” featuring Diddy and Black Rob, whose music video introduced the entire nation to the “Harlem Shake” is back with a new mixtape project, “Deponomics” and even more releases on the way.

Hip Hop Lives’ (HHLO’s) Brittany Graham speaks with Dep regarding how he got started in the music industry, how he feels about ghostwriting, Internet piracy, having a Black President, and plans for the future.

Hip Hop Lives Online: So Dep, wassup. Can you tell me a little bit about your nickname “The Deputy”? Can you elaborate a little bit on how you got that name?

G-Dep: It’s a G-Dep thing. Dep comes from Deputy, something that just caught on…

HHLO: Okay so where did G-Dep originate?

G-Dep: When I was younger I tried to come up with a name…  My middle name is Gerald so I tried to think of something with a G and I said I was gonna be the General and at the same time be the Deputy because my man was gonna be Kimosabe. He was like my partner and we liked to play Cowboys and Indians so I was the General Deputy or the Cowboy and he was the Indian. After a while I just shortened it to G-Dep, I thought it sounded crazy, and that’s really how the name came about.

HHLO: Are you still signed to Bad Boy?

G-Dep: Right now the situation between me and them is just up in the air. We still do business but right now I’m doin the whole independent thing. Just recently, I got up with a couple of dudes from Bad Boy and I’m still writing something for the up and coming Puffy album so we still do business but as far as me getting another project out, its still up in the air.

HHLO: So are you writing for yourself to be featured on Puffy’s album or are you doing a little ghostwriting?

G-Dep: It’s probably going to be one of those things where it’s either or. Who knows where the lyrics will go or who will use them.

HHLO: So as a rapper, how do you feel about using a ghostwriter?  Singers, for example, will sing a song written by someone else but they have they power to move people with their voice and they way they sing the song. How do you feel about rappers using works not written by them?

G-Dep: I mean, sometimes a cat will have a better position; you know what I’m sayin, for his voice to be heard so it’s kind of the same thing with the rappers. If somebody comes across that can touch the people a lit bit better, then sometimes, you know, it might be aight to have a ghostwriter to just get it out there. I mean, I think rap is involved in a way that cats could really put all the pride to the side and if it’s hot just spit it out, you know what I’m saying. I mean I know back in the day if you were spittin somebody else’s raps, you was considered a biter but, I mean it’s kinda different now. If it’s hot, it’s hot.

HHLO: How would you say that rap has changed from when you first got into rap, when you first wanted to do it, until now?

G-Dep: I mean, I don’t know, it’s kinda like the mainstream rap right now, it wouldn’t be accepted back then. I don’t know, back then the main stream rap that’s kinda goin on right now was kinda underground then, you know what I’m sayin. It’s like the same thing, just a little progression.

HHLO: Okay so let’s get back to G-Dep as an artist. What do you feel that you bring to the game that fans can’t get from other rappers?  What separates you from other rappers?

G-Dep: I mean, I’m just hittin cats with that ghetto wit. I mean, I know a lot of cats is comin from the hood but its like; I’m tryin to hit them with that vintage rap. I mean, that’s going back to that question that you said before, it seems like now cats is spittin out more feelings than music. And back then, it was just music, regular music and most of the stuff that we hear today that’s mainstream would kinda be underground back then. The stuff that’s mainstream now is totally out of this world, I mean it’s really unacceptable right now.

HHLO: Okay, so how do you feel about vocoder?  I mean T-pain came out doing it, now Wayne is using it, so how do you feel about that in general?

G-Dep: I mean, I think it’s a hot sound but, I don’t know, to each his own. I don’t know, if dudes wanna keep doin that it’s just gonna burn out. It’s a beautiful thing, getting love like that… but every song. I mean it depends on who uses it too. If you tryin to do the same thing on your third single, you still doin the same voice thing…  I don’t know. I think certain cats did it right. They did it one time when it was hot and kept it movin. That’s not nothing to really knock cause you’d be an idiot to keep using it, I mean in general, I’m not sick of hearin it but if it’s from the same artist, you kinda get sick of it.

HHLO: *Laughs* Yeah… So what made you want to rap?  Who or what inspired you?  Did you know from the time you were little that you wanted to rap?

G-Dep: Yeah, I think so. I was always very into the B-boy scene. I grew up in Harlem and up in the Bronx as well so I was always around that type of mentality. I didn’t really realize I wanted to rap probably until I got into the 7^th grade, somthin like that; I started writin rhymes and all that. But I was always around the break dancing and the graffiti, living up in the Bronx so I think it was just one of those things that was inevitable.

HHLO: With all these online file-sharing networks like Napster and Limewire emerging, the music industry is taking a big loss. Do you feel like that is going to affect your future album sales?

G-Dep: Definitely, I mean, there’s no way around it, it’s like bootlegging. Like how bootlegging affected sales, same thing with the Napster. It’s probably worse because it’s legal.

HHLO: Is it legal?

G-Dep: I mean, it’s basically legal. I don’t know the whole spiel but I know iTunes and all that, that’s all legal. Before you couldn’t buy one single off of somebody’s album for .99 cent, you couldn’t do that. Now, I don’t know, it’s good and bad because its like free publicity, you know what I mean, but then again I think if the artist is in control of it, it’s a good thing. But if it’s just out there and cats is just duplicating joints and sellin them that’s when it’s kinda like bootlegging. Just another form of piracy.

HHLO: With the Internet becoming a big place for artists to connect with their fans, have you developed a web presence?  Do you have a blog or do you offer new songs for exclusive download online?  How are you taping into that online market?

G-Dep: Yeah, at first I was a hater, I was like naw, these cyber thug dudes, this shit is crazy. I get that from my man Black Rob. He used to call dudes cyber thugs…  Like these niggas, I can’t get with it. Dudes behind the computer creating this whole fantasy. But now, I came around, I can kinda understand it’s a new way of hustling. Gotta change with the times, you know what I’m sayin. I taped into it, I kinda get my thing on through the Internet, you know MySpace, free downloads. You can holla at me if you need a verse, here’s my g-mail. It’s a way to stay connected.

HHLO: What’s your MySpace?

G-Dep: www.myspace.com/TheReturnofGDep

HHLO: Okay, So Dep!  How does it feel to have a Black President?

G-Dep: Aww man, I don’t know, for a couple of weeks. Naw, it hasn’t been a couple of weeks but for the first week, I felt like that shit was a dream. Word up, I was really proud of that dude. I don’t know, if you not proud of him, you probably not Black or you just, on your own your own sheet of music man. It was real crazy to me, like Wow. I just gives you another outlook on life in a way; you know what I’m sayin. We startin fresh right now.

HHLO: Yeah that’s real. I just think about the little kids growing up right now that are 1 or 2 years old that are only going to know a Black President. Like ever since I can remember we had a Black President and that’s just normal to me.

G-Dep: Yeah, word that’s real right there. They gonna be able to reach for the stars. I mean, when we was growing up, I couldn’t even imagine there was ever going to be a Black President. I mean, I heard talks about it, dreamt about it, like that’s crazy, what if it would happen. And we still was keeping it pushin but imagine what they gonna do though. They gonna go to another planet. That’s crazy, a beautiful thing.

HHLO: Alright, so I’m gonna ask you a little bit on this attack, I would say, on artists from the South, saying things like artists such as Soulja Boy are ruining rap, they comin out with all these dances, and that’s not Hip-Hop. How do you feel about that whole southern movement and people attacking them for that style of music?

G-Dep: I think that it just cats, you know what I’m sayin, cats just talkin cause it ain’t really nothin else to talk about. They see a movement and if your not apart of it all you can do is commentate, you know what I mean. Cats is doin they thing, just like everybody else. I don’t even understand how it’s so separate like they from another country or some shit, you know what I mean. It is what it is. We been listening to cats from the South, Scarface and all these other cats. I don’t understand what that’s all about now. I mean, they talkin bout the Soulja Boy dude makin gimmick songs and all that and it ain’t Hip-Hop but Hip-Hop started with dances and all that man. So for you to say it’s not Hip-Hop because he’s doin dances, it’s like what are you talking about. I think cats just be wantin something to talk about. If its wack its wack, thats one thing but I mean, just to talk about a cat is doin somethin and it’s not Hip-Hop, you gotta do your math, I mean do your history. Big Daddy Kane, Kid N Play, all these niggas, I mean come on. They was doing business in ‘82, in ‘85. So what are ya’ll talkin about, I mean, this is Hip-Hop. I think cats just ain’t used to it, they was on another level and now they see its back to where it originated, as far as niggas havin fun, and cats is just dissin. Hatin on other cats.

HHLO: So what about the older Black community saying that rappers have a responsibility to today’s youth and you guys are role models, how do you feel about kids growing up and looking up to rappers?  Do you think rappers have a responsibility to kinda be positive for the little kids that’s looking at them?

G-Dep: All that, I mean come on, that’s bullshit right there. I mean that’s the parent’s job to monitor what their kids are consuming. I mean if you’re not watching your kids and he’s listening to me and I’m talking about “yo I see bitches in the back, bitches don’t front, I pull out that gat, what you really want”, it’s your fault for not havin them in that room doin homework. You supposed to monitor, you know what I mean, like what are you doin on the Internet? Who are you Myspacin?  What’s that?  It’s no way these kids supposed to know what they know right now. They not learning that from turning to channel 4 or channel 5, they learnin that from turnin to channel 42 on the cable that you paid for, while you’re not watching them. Kids are supposed to be monitored. The computer that you got in your room, they on it, fucking around, doing this and that, come on man. They on YouTube crazy, that’s your fault. They wouldn’t know if you would just hold them down and say listen this ain’t wassup, I’mma lead by example. I think it’s a double edged sword because music is therapeutic and sometimes it’s just so good you can’t help but to listen and sometimes, you know, the message gets misconstrued. So you just gotta shelter them completely or be able to monitor that. It’s really nobody’s fault at the end. I think we don’t give little kids enough credit sometimes too, because they got their own mind. So if you thinkin that me just doin this or sayin that is really influencin them then it’s probably really a problem. I mean you can tell a kid one thing and 9 times out of 10 they don’t even listen. It’s just entertainment for them; I mean most of the time they know it ain’t real.

HHLO: Do you listen to anybody that’s out?  Who do you listen to that’s had an album out in the last 2-3 years?

G-Dep: I haven’t bought an album in awhile. I listen to cats though. I might go online, I like the videos that’s out but you know when you rap, you’re kinda into your thing. I like certain movements. I like the Dipset thing; I like Roc-a-fella, a lot of movements. I like the Q-tip dude, he’s back in action. I’m kinda a nit-picker now cause once your familiar with the artists you can kinda pick and choose when you want to hear it.

HHLO: What about reality shows?  Would you ever go on one?

G-Dep: Them joints are crazy. They talk about reality shows but it’s really just entertainment. A lot of it is just too much, it’s a gimmick now, it’s not reality. I mean whose reality is it?  If they would come out with somethin that goes on everyday and talk about it, then that’s a reality show but it probably wouldn’t get no views. It’s somethin to watch, I like the idea of it but that’s as far as it would go. I wouldn’t want to do one, you know what I’m sayin, what I would want to do probably isn’t what people want to see.

HHLO: Do you have anything else that you would want fans to know about you or be on the lookout for?

G-Dep: I mean, I want them to know that we comin. G-Dep is in effect. Check that MySpace. Got that Deponomics out now. We just put out a mixtape in September. You can go online to the MySpace and download it for free. We doin that and we puttin out another mixtape next week that’s following Deponomics called Geometry. So look out for that and just look out for the album real soon. I don’t want to give you the name of the joint right now, just look out for another G-Dep album soon though.

HHLO: Who did you work with on the mixtape?  Did you work with a certain DJ?

G-Dep: Yeah, that’s comin through DJ E-Nyce. He be behind the scenes a lot on a lot of projects. He a young cat but his drive is incredible and he’s dealt with a lot of cats and helped them circulate they thing and get they singles poppin like Ron Brows and stuff like that. This next joint will be hosted by him too.

HHLO: Well thank you for doing this interview with me and taking out the time to talk with me. It was nice talking with you.

G-Dep: Thank you, I appreciate it.

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