By Odeisel

We often forget that entertainers are people when they pic up the microphone and hit the stage. They may represent something as an entertainment persona that runs counter to the way they live their life. Lloyd Banks represents the hard-charging G-Unit and the Hunger For more rapper represents the streets and that quest for that paper. But what lies beneath? In this candid interview, Banks discusses being the product of mixed racial heritage, his regrets at not finishing school, growing up in a single parent household, the truth about relationships in the hood and being raised predominantly by women. Pay attention. You should definitely learn something you didn’t know about the G-Unit rapper. Enjoy.

Planet Ill: Your mom is Puerto Rican, your father is Black. Growing up did you have any identity issues with those cultures clashing?

Lloyd Banks: Not really. If anything, it made me more diverse and understanding of what was happening outside. My grandfather was from Ponce, Puerto Rico. My grandmother and them, they’re from down south. One of my cousins, his mother is Jamaican, so I would get different vibes from wherever I went.

I could go to my cousin’s house, He’s Puerto Rican and Jamaican, so I’m hearing two different kinds of music. Today, I had jerk chicken, rice and peas. Tomorrow I might have rice and beans, roast chicken and something my grandmother made, so it was like I just had bits and pieces of everything and it helped me understand.

You know what’s weird? Not to disrespect anybody but ijust feel like where I grew up sometimes, in poverty, we’re more receptive to new things. You have no choice. The only white people I knew were my basketball coach. I had a white teacher. And then it was the police. So if it was a white man in my neighborhood, and he wasn’t police, let him go! He’s cool. The last thing I was thinking about was something nasty to say or even think. As long as he ain’t fucking with us, he good money.

If you was in a Phantom, and someone pulled up next to you in a hoopty, what’s your chances of rolling your window down?

Planet Ill: ZERO

Lloyd Banks: Even if they just wanted directions, you know what I’m saying? And I think that where we come from, we grasp on to everything and appreciate it. I had friends of Asian descent when I was in school. An Asian kid named Saou, I’ll never forget him, ‘cause he was nice and he was Chinese and this was like 15 years before Yao Ming. I just think that when you work with the bare necessities, you appreciate everything.

Planet Ill: Do you regret not finishing school?

Lloyd Banks: Yeah, to a certain extent. Just because I can’t tell my kids…I can’t tell them to finish school. I left school for…I had a lot of wants; I aspired to be something. I set my mind on it so strong that I couldn’t see me doing anything else but that. I think that that’s something you as a person, you can make that decision. Of course people didn’t understand it. And I had bad vision, so that was another DUMB reason. Because I had to wear glasses.

Cool kids traditionally sit in the back of the class. I was a cool kid. So I sat in the back of the class but I was too cool to wear glasses. So a lot of the work came easy to me, but I couldn’t see it. I couldn’t see the homework. Kids watching, that’s probably the DUMBEST reason not to finish school, but it does exist. The same way a kid might be a little ashamed or embarrassed to speak about safe sex or things like that with his mom.

My pops wasn’t around for my upbringing. My mom came to me first and said, “Yo, this is what’s up. This is how you put the condom on. You need to be careful, this that and the third.” And I think that has to do with everything and it starts in the crib with your loved ones.

Planet Ill: How have you managed to maintain that Batman Lifestyle? A lot of rappers get caught up with baby mommas and groupies, etc. Not everyone needs that familial base because they are chasing something. You’re chasing your music. When that fire trickles down do you ever think about having a family?

Lloyd Banks: It’s definitely not for me though. I want to put that out there. At the same time I don’t want anybody to feel, “Aww you don’t feel like you’re missing anything?” I was raised by women. One thing my mother always told me was [that] a woman scorned is something you never want to see. So with all that in mind I would usually give the woman the benefit of the doubt, because of the woman that I have appreciated in my life; my mother, my grandmother’s and my aunts. I just love women and I have respect for them to the ultimate so a lot of the times it was not protecting myself, it was protecting you; the girl.

It’s one thing to know what you want, like if a girl says all I want is you. Well I can’t honestly sit here and say all I want is you, so maybe I’ll just love you enough to let you go. I just think I matured a lot faster. I think that people who end up in those kinds of situations are in denial. They tell they homeboys, “Man fuck that, I don’t give a fuck about no bitch!” Then behind closed doors, they really do. And then they have babies and things like that.

Your girl is a representation of you. So if you’re running around and you just running loose on anything you run into, then how can people respect your situation with your girlfriend? What makes her different? What adds a significance to that situation if you treat all girls the same? And that was always my theory.

So I would just keep that in mind, man. At the same time I don’t want to force a situation. A baby…I think you should love your kid enough not to bring them in a situation that you were in. And I was in a situation where my father wasn’t around a lot of times when I needed him I the early stages of my life. Even if you’re financially set, it takes more than money. Money is cool, but money will start to turn into the reason why they like whoever is giving them the money. That in turn will confuse the kid. Like, if he doesn’t give me no money, he doesn’t love me. So I think the presence means a lot more and I won’t put myself in a situation or bring a life into this world unless I can get them all the attention.

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