ATLien

It's a little on the long side.

http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/featur...its-been/p.all

Cee-Lo is southern rap royalty. And if you denounce, deny, or even just disagree with that statement then please click on one of the other feature selections to your right, ‘cause this interview is not for you.

The following Q&A is for Dungeon Fam faithful, for those fans whose lives were irreversibly changed for the better when they first heard the motivational messages contained in the certified classics that are Soul Food and Still Standing.

This feature is for those same fans who faithfully followed the star of those two albums on to his two stellar solo projects and listened in awe as he developed into the Al Green of Hip Hop, and began balancing his skilled socially-conscious rhymes with vocals so soulful the Green comparison is considered apt by all who’ve heard him instead of outrageous hyperbole.

This reprinting of the lengthy discussion Cee-Lo had with HipHopDX recently is for those that were well versed in Lo long before he became an acclaimed songwriter for The *****cat Dolls (“Don’t Cha”), Brandy, Amerie and the like, and long before he went to St. Elsewhere as one half of The Odd Couple [click to read] alongside producer Danger Mouse.

This piece is for those of us that actually still care about the long-delayed Goodie Mob reunion, who want to hear Andre 3000 and Cee-Lo spittin’ on the same track, and most importantly those that know Cee-Lo the emcee is desperately needed back on the scene if southern Hip Hop is to ever reclaim its respect amongst all regions.

This is the definitive Cee-Lo interview. Enjoy!

HipHopDX: My six-year-old niece has taken to singing, “Don’t cha wish your girlfriend was a freak like me,” because she heard Alvin singing it in the Alvin And The Chipmunks movie. So, who’s more to blame for this, Alvin or Cee-Lo [Laughs]?
Cee-Lo: [Laughs] I think we’re all a little guilty. I’m sorry little one.

DX: Now on to the hardcore questions. Let’s just get funky with it, Cee-Lo vs. Andre 3000, who’s the nicest emcee out The Dungeon Family?
Cee-Lo: I think that we’re more allies than adversaries, and always have been. I think our agendas are similar in spirit and sentiment and style, and a little bit of sight, but I think our sounds are different. But I, as well as many others, revere Dre 3000 as one of the best. So he will never get anything but a compliment from me. But I also would rate myself as a pretty good emcee too [Laughs].

DX: When you gonna follow Dre and start “Brett Farve’n,” as he calls it, reminding this new generation of Cee-Lo the lyricist?
Cee-Lo: Soon. I guess as far as emceeing is concerned, I do have a specific agenda, and it’s more [slanted] towards social conscious[ness] and politically-charged [content]. And so what better vehicle to use [for that] than Goodie Mob and the new project that we’re working on?

And speaking of [emceeing], I’ve become a fan of Dre’s all over again with his resurgence on the scene. I’m turned on by that. He’s actually made me want to rhyme again. [Gnarls Barkley] having the cover of The Source this month and [Dre] having the [“Hip Hop] Quotable” with that “Royal Flush” verse in the same issue, it’s [all] quite a bit of confirmation of our longevity and power.

So yeah, I think I’ll direct [back towards emceeing]. Truth of the matter is, I’m glad that people are inquiring about where I stand as far as that’s concerned. I wasn’t [thinking] anyone needed that from me.

DX: I was afraid that we had lost MC Cee-Lo to Cee-Lo Green entirely. I personally believe you’re the best emcee-turned-singer in Hip Hop history, but in the 21st century we’ve heard less and less of the emcee we came to know and love in the ‘90s.
Cee-Lo: Believe it or not, you haven’t at all. And I must say that [my] evolution outward [towards singing] is very natural [for me].

As far as Gnarls Barkley, [that] was not contrived in the least bit. When we recorded the first Gnarls record [St. Elsewhere], I had also done a full-length with Jazze Pha [Happy Hour] that nobody ever got a chance to hear, and I was spittin’ on that. I had planned on both of those albums being released somewhat simultaneously. But when one got picked up [by a major label for distribution] prior to the other, that’s what made [it] contractual and exclusive [to] where I couldn’t [have both released at the same time].

I wanted to prove what was possible [with Gnarls]. Especially when I felt like I had [already] done quite a bit of proving myself as an emcee. Not to say that I was done with it, but I didn’t feel like I really had any competition. And rap just became a little less challenging for me, being that what rap is equated with and how easy it is to infiltrate. I just felt like the bar was lowered. And this is not to insult anyone, it’s just an observation. But I was born out of the golden era of emceeing. I’m talking about the Brother J’s from X-Clan, and the KRS-One’s, and the Rakim’s. My elders don’t rhyme anymore, and myself becoming an elder as well – after the 14 years I been around – I felt like I wanted to prove you could move on and make music that acts your age so to speak. You feel me?

DX: Yeah, I felt you 10 years ago: “Now, the listener in here want the same flow but I gotta let it grow/Love it enough to let it go, if I don’t wanna rap no mo'.” So you made that prediction [a decade] ago [on “Still Standing”] that this transition from spittin’ to singing was gonna happen.
Cee-Lo: Yes I did. I always knew that I had this other music in me. What shape and form and fashion it would manifest itself in remained to be seen [at the time]. So with me predicting that 10 years ago by the time [the full transition] happened you knew I was very secure in that. And I do think I’m [still] emceeing. I think that the Hip Hop community as a whole is able to look at me as one of their own.

You realize that something like Gnarls cannot be pretended? At a time when our culture and community is deteriorating people are seeking refuge in other means of music. [And] so there I am again, out trying to create a place for us as black artists. I’m on my hands and knees paving a two-way street to come to and fro as I wish. This wasn’t a one-way road out of there [for me].

DX: And you mentioned earlier you’re gonna be coming full circle with the new Goodie Mob project. You guys made the formal reunion announcement over a year-and-a-half ago, and you made an appearance on Ali & Gipp’s album last year, but still no new Goodie Mob material has surfaced yet, how come?
Cee-Lo: The Goodie Mob situation does not have a label home as we speak. A few people have inquired, but still no respectable deal or offer [has been presented]. Quite honestly, Goodie Mob was and is still expected to be a threat to [the] establishment. And you have to have that type of sentiment in common to endorse it [as a company]. It just does not ring [of] commodity or being sold.

DX: Well ****, it’s [really] gonna be a problem [for y’all] if Hillary Clinton gets the [Democratic] nomination, ‘cause I remember y’all went at Billy when it was not the cool thing to do. I still remember that and respecting that. [Y’all were] one of the few Hip Hop acts to do that in the ‘90s.
Cee-Lo: Oh yeah, definitely. That [fear of the group’s content] is a real thing. And so our revolution may end up having to be independently funded.

DX: Can [your label] Radiculture just put it out?
Cee-Lo: Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m saying. But I couldn’t just put it out because I’m also a member of the group, [and I’m bound] exclusively to the Gnarls situation and the solo situation that I have at Atlantic. And speaking of Radiculture, our [label’s contractual] situation is up as well. It’s an imprint again.

DX: Have you guys recorded [together again] yet, or are you waiting to get the label situation finalized?
Cee-Lo: We’ve done a few songs [already]. But everybody [has] to maintain in the meantime. Like, me and [Big] Gipp are actually in [Atlanta] as we speak. I was just with Gipp the other day. And T [Mo] was out of town doing a run. So everybody’s got their own work going on. But the bigger picture is to get [us] all back together [on one album]. And I will try not to be stretched so thin at the time [that we do]. But I do have a [pre-existing] itinerary as well that’s gonna keep me moving all the way until October. We haven’t even toured for the new Gnarls record yet. I want to maintain the optimism about it all though, ‘cause it is my intention [to record a new Goodie Mob album]. We’re just gonna have to work out a lot of the politics and logistics.

DX: How much Organized Noize involvement [in the album] do you think there’s gonna be?
Cee-Lo: Believe me, everybody wants to get involved. So the O.G.’s will definitely be involved.

DX: So you can do that Dre vs. Lo thing on the album.
Cee-Lo: [Laughs] I’m not messing with you on that, man.

DX: I’m not trying to get you to talk ****. Honestly, I’d love to hear that, on some “Meth vs. Chef” type ****.
Cee-Lo: I would do it! Dungeon, I consider us to be the Wu of the south. I miss them too. I just spoke to Raekwon recently. I’m a big fan of them as well. I woulda never known that Ghostface would go on to become one of my favorite emcees.

DX: While we’re talking about Goodie Mob, did the rest of the guys ever tell you their thoughts on “Glockapella”?
Cee-Lo: I talked to Khujo once [about it] and he said, “I like it. It’s hard!” Then one day T-Mo told me it shocked him but was pleasing in a kind of ironic way ‘cause he said that he thought I could care less [about the group split]. When I wasn’t addressing anything directly [initially after the split] he just thought I had gotten my royalties and [was] sitting somewhere like, “Man, **** it. I don’t even care.” But to know that I was hurting behind it, it pleased him in that way like, “Damn, he care enough to get mad about it.”

DX: I don’t wanna revisit ancient history, but was this **** really all over World Party not being up to snuff, or was it ‘cause you and Gipp were buttin’ heads, or did you just really want to start your solo career? What was the real catalyst for the split eight or so years ago?
Cee-Lo: It was really about the direction [the recording of 1999’s World Party] was taking them creatively. And I just thought [if] the overall dissension amongst us was evidence of nothing it was time for me to make a move. I was starting to become a little claustrophobic as well, and feeling very unfulfilled. I’m like, “If this is where we’re going…” Like, it almost scared me if it did [succeed]. Although I knew it wasn’t gonna work, but [I was] almost like, “Damn, what if it does work? Will this be what we end up doing?” I didn’t like the thought of that. We talked about it, but at the time it was just do or die and it seemed like everybody else was more convinced about the record than I was. It just didn’t make for unity.

DX: Have you guys gone over [plans for the new album] like, “Hey, we’re doing the Soul Food/Still Standing tradition, not World Party 2?” ‘Cause that Lumberjacks album [that T-Mo and Khujo released in 2005] was kinda like was a reversion back to some World Party stuff.
Cee-Lo: Man, I listened to that album one time. I listened to that One Monkey Don’t Stop No Show one time. And it’s like, they’ll tell you…T has described himself a rapper, as an emcee, and his whole thing initially coming to the game was just rappin’, about this and that. It doesn’t really have anything to do with a mission or a cause. But my being involved [in the group led to] what you heard [on those first two Goodie Mob albums]. And this is not to insult anybody, ‘cause I think it’s the truth, but what you heard [was] my influence shining [through].

We weren’t even a group [initially] to begin with. Khujo and T were The Lumberjacks. Gipp was a solo artist who had just gotten out of a group called the East Point Chain Gang, which featured him, Chief, Cool Breeze, and a cat named O.Z. And I was a solo artist. So actually OutKast was in the Goodie Mob, Organized Noize was in the Goodie Mob, so to speak, and therefore we had titled [the collective] Dungeon Family. The Dungeon was always the name of the studio [we worked out of in Rico Wade’s basement]. [And so] Goodie Mob was more or less supposed to be a compilation [of different artists].

“Free,” the intro [to Soul Food] was actually a whole [solo] song [initially] that was chopped down to the intro. Because as long as I could remember I wanted to sing. Khujo and T were going through litigation with their former management about the namesake Lumberjacks and things of that nature, so they couldn’t even use their solo songs on the album. And then “Dirty South” was Gipp’s solo song on the album, but he chose to put [his former group member] Cool Breeze on there. And I’m glad he did. The same thing with “Black Ice” [from Still Standing], that was a solo song from Gipp [originally]. [Going back], if you listen to “Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik” [when you hear Dre say], “Big Gipp, Goodie Mob, P.A., Outkast southernplayalistic.” So we wasn’t even formed as Goodie Mob at that time.

So a lot of that mission and the politics and the social content [of the group], that’s just my thing. But as it was introduced [to the rest of the group] everybody found that place in themselves that had it in common. That ended up being our common ground. And then it became something very natural. And it was personified by the time we got to Still Standing, which is our best album in my opinion. Soul Food is our debut album, so therefore you can’t ever duplicate that. You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. But it wasn’t our best album to me. Still Standing is the one.

DX: Well I hope that you guys end up back on that page ‘cause the good are still unfortunately dying mostly over bull****.
Cee-Lo: Yeah, definitely. And we fought very hard to abolish those stereotypes of southern music, [but] as soon as we were taken out of the way [that] was just all reinstated. I try so hard not to judge it…but you have to understand, when we all come back together as Goodie Mob it’s [gonna be the same] way the Panthers had to come back in to clean up their communities. So we’re probably not gonna make some good friends with the trappers and ****. And I’m not trying to knock nobody’s hustle but there has to be a balance. There’s no us anymore, no one else brave enough to pick up that torch and carry it even further. And [southern Hip Hop] is suffering because of it. But it’s suffering on such a scale that they even recognize it themselves. You may not even have to call their names out. I may not even have to do it because they do realize what a travesty it all is.

DX: Yeah, I don’t know where that chain got broken.
Cee-Lo: Everybody’s trying to feed their families, so there are certain things you have to do to play it safe. But what I love about Goodie Mob was that we weren’t doing it for any money at all. That’s how genuine it was. It was activism more than it was entertainment. I never felt like I was tap dancing for anybody. I’m anti-establishment in that way.

I am well aware of the conscious and intentional genocide my people are subjected to. And I’m also conscious [of the fact that] the definition of ****** is “settler” in the simplest terms, and not want anymore for yourself. And [that] just appauls me. I can’t allow that to be. I have children. These grown-*** men need to behave as such. I wanna make it fashionable for us to be fathers, [to have] families and be focused. And that be final but still fly. I’m old enough to be an elder, but I’m still young enough to be the youth.

DX: I don’t mean to switch off topic here, but what does the Goodie reunion mean for Cee-Lo Green? Is the third solo album still gonna happen?
Cee-Lo: I have a solo album that I’m working on. That’s the next deal that I signed. So like I said, I already have an itinerary that’s put into place, etched into stone because [Atlantic] paid me in advance. I almost wish that we were on those type of cordial terms at the time [that I signed with Atlantic] I woulda made a demand like, “I won’t sign with you unless you sign the Goodie Mob too.” Buy it’s a little late for that, so all I can do is prove my own worth. And Gnarls Barkley doesn’t do that alone, immensely successful as it was. They’re still not taking into consideration my 14 years of work up until this point. I’m more or less defined by just the one song. You do have [true] Gnarls fans, but you mostly have fans of the song “Crazy.” And so if anybody wonders why we took a darker direction on The Odd Couple it’s because [we] had to kinda get sucka free.

DX: This new solo album, is it gonna be back to Soul Machine or you feel like you kinda gotta do a third Gnarls album?
Cee-Lo: No, I don’t. Gnarls is for Gnarls. The [new] solo record to me is…I guess aesthetically it may be similar to Soul Machine. But definitely improved on, because I’ve gotten so much better since then.

DX: Yeah, I read where you said your first two solo albums were too schizophrenic, but to me that’s what made Soul Machine one of the best albums of the last five years [click to read]. Maybe it needed a little bit more spittin’ to suit someone like me, but overall that was some damn-good sounding schizophrenia.
Cee-Lo: Well yeah, I would describe it as such too, undiagnosed schizophrenia. You’re exactly right. I felt like at the time I was suffering from something that I like to call assembly line syndrome. And I felt like this [album] is all that I embody [musically], and all that I aspire towards. So I [felt like] I’ve got one album to do it [all] in. So it was like let me get a little some of this, a little some of that. And maybe the average consumer’s mind doesn’t deviate that often throughout the course of an album. But again, ultimately that’s what ends up being special about me. And like if you were to break retardation down into the simplest terms, wouldn’t it just be single-minded? So I feel very healthy and very sane that my brain is that active and that my horizons are that broad.

DX: Is it Cee-Lo Green and His Broad Horizons, is that the title you think [Laughs]?
Cee-Lo: I was gonna call it Solid Gold [at one point]. I was [flirting with] calling it Cee-Lo Green Is A Tree In The City. You know what that means right? You can’t cut down all the trees for the sake of commerce.

DX: You said you still gotta tour with Danger, we talking ’09 you think [for the solo album]?
Cee-Lo: Yeah, ’09, because I’ll be working on the Mob this year. That’s what I was afraid of. I didn’t want it to be thrown together, just trying to send a song here, “Okay, let’s get together and do one song [now] because I gotta be in Japan.” I miss the times when we went to the mountains [for] the Still Standing album. We didn’t record it [there], we went and wrote it in the mountains. We got up, we went on nature trails and we cooked for each other. Or when we did Soul Food we were all staying in Curtis Mayfield’s house in Curtom Studios. So I know we won’t really have that this time around, so I don’t really know how it’s gonna be. And it scares me. It’s like I would almost rather a prolonged maybe [on the group’s reunion effort] than a definite no, this is not gonna work. ‘Cause let’s face it, the ****’s gotta be awesome.

DX: It’s gotta be. Back to your solo joint, please promise me that for your third go-round you’re gonna get at least one DJ Premier track. “Evening News” is one of his illest creations ever and I wanna hear more of what you two can do.
Cee-Lo: Aww man, you are a man after my own heart. That’s my favorite song. To me, that was one of the better blends of the spittin’ and a little bit of the melodic stylistic kinda joint. Plus, it’s dark like the Gnarls ****. I love it like that.

DX: I think you already answered this question but I’ll just ask it [since] we’re talking about Soul Machine: “Before we came being southern wasn’t something to claim/That flag wasn’t something to fly it was something to blame/Smilin’ and juckin’ and jivin’, I was so ashamed.” Are you ashamed of contemporary southern Hip Hop?
Cee-Lo: Well, it’s almost like how can you be ashamed of something shameless? It’s just shameless.

DX: There was a video about eating fried chicken that looked like it was shot on a plantation.
Cee-Lo: Yeah dog, it’s like, damn! I’ve gotten older and I’ve stopped pointing my fingers at people. And I stopped talking so much, I felt like I just wanted to do. But I do slow down enough to watch. I see what’s going on. But the reason why I don’t judge it completely – I don’t totally get enraged and start slapping little mutha****as in the mouth behind it for misrepresenting the city or the culture – is because I’m optimistic about and because of my own aspirations, for what I have in mind. So I know [this] is not gonna be the end all be all, it’s just a period [in time]. It’s just a matter of time [before it changes]. That’s the best way I can answer that without insulting anyone. The only reason I spare people is because I feel like if I say their names and somebody say something back to me that’s when I’m gonna know all respect has been lost and I’ma get in some trouble.

DX: I just love how you end that verse [on “Die Trying”] explaining what motivates your content direction: “I know too much and I owe too much.” I’m not even trying to gas you up, but gotdamn you have the power to make a mutha****a freeze up and just start contemplating their whole existence when you start spittin’ out them life gems.
Cee-Lo: That’s my thing! I judge myself before I judge [other] people. I testify and I confess in front of everyone. I’ma tell you something real, my music was always done in the event of my demise. If I died in the line of duty I would wanna be remembered for these words and this particular stance and these actions. And that is the sentiment and the statement and the stance of a revolutionary. I thought that I would be fighting toward a change so aggressively, and so effectively, that somebody would want me dead. I said that in that song too didn’t I? “I thought if I died for you that would be an honorable death.” So I thought it was honorable [to say those things].

DX: Well I thought you were motivated by something else. When you get deep in your rhymes it sounds like you’re getting prepared for [your] post-music career, so I gotta ask the question you already answered on “Selling Soul,” are you planning to become the Al Green of Hip Hop literally and leave the stage for the pulpit?
Cee-Lo: Wow, I just said that [to somebody] the other day too. You pretty observant [Laughs]. That’s why I stopped talking so much and I decided to just be still and wait on God to move me [towards that]. Because I don’t know at what point in time, or what situation or circumstance would ordain me in that way. I know brother Green had the hot grits thrown on him. I don’t want that to happen, so my music has always been trying to be pleasing in the sight of my maker, and [so] he would move me when he saw fit when my work was done. I’m fortunate to say that I still feel like I have a lot of music left in me. But to answer your question, I don’t really know [yet]. I figure that by the time that happens to me it’s gonna be unmistakable. But I hope that nothing tragic has to happen for me to be pushed in that way. It’s the same way that I lost my mother, which energized me to do what I’ve done thus far.

DX: Is that what your mom wanted? Before she passed did she say explicitly that she wanted you to follow in her footsteps [and become a minister], or did she just want her reckless teenage son to git up, git out and git something?
Cee-Lo: Yeah, more or less. We never spoke about it directly, but there had always been those things [implied] when I was growing up. She told me that my father [who passed] had said I was going to be special and I would have something special to do. And she believed that. But with me being a deviant when I was young – and for the record, I have not always been this well-spoken and articulate. I dropped out of the school in the ninth grade. I’m self-civilized. So with that being said, I didn’t believe [what she believed in me] wholeheartedly. I felt like, “Well, all parents think their kids are special.”

If you listen to the new Gnarls record, there’s a song called “She Knows,” and loosely that’s what it’s about. I feel like I took on my mother’s spirit. This is her work, not my work. Although it is voluntary on my part at this point, [the] initiating point of what happened to me I had nothing to do with. It’s almost like I woke up one day and could articulate and was wise, and was driven and compassionate. When I was just robotic the day before. So I do feel like it’s my mother’s ambition. I just felt like I had disgraced her so many times before I could never do it again. I felt like I owed her the rest of my life because I knew she had given her life for me.

DX: It’s hard to imagine you as a pistol-packing petty criminal.
Cee-Lo: Have you heard that from me or from somebody else?

DX: Read about it in articles.
Cee-Lo: I want somebody else to tell you. It sounds a little outrageous coming outta my mouth. I put it like this, a song like “Crazy,” the magnitude and the impact that it had, can you imagine all of that internalized with no outlet? My chest couldn’t hold it. I would’ve imploded with it. That is the rocket fuel behind my [musical] exploration. The fact [is] it’s therapeutic to me. I have to do it.

And for the record, people don’t just respect me for [music], but I’m also a G. And I’ll say that in print. I’m a soldier, man. I’m a warrior. Gangster sounds a little cliché, and a little typical at this point. My whole thing on that is I can show you better than I can tell you. But I’d much rather do something for the greater good. And I’m very fortunate that my life was spared because of [music]. And I could never let that be in vein. I feel like I went on to be somebody. But the street people they know where I come from. And they know I don’t glorify none of that dumb ****.

DX: Switching gears here, maybe I’m too much of a Hip Hop head, but the Gnarls Barkley phenomenon of the past couple years kinda passed me by. I guess when the alternative and rock media anoint something Hip Hoppers create as being great I become immediately suspicious of it. Am I just too much of a purist who needs to expand his horizons?
Cee-Lo: Nah, I wouldn’t say that. I respect that. Like I said [though], you can’t pretend with that, what emotions are involved. You can’t pretend with that entire genre, that entire culture, which just happens to be greater America. [Gnarls] is the real thing. This is the same energy and emotion unbridled that drove me to do Goodie Mob. I need to harness [that energy] into something constructive and productive. Just talking **** for the sake of rappin’, that’s never what I’ve done. I need cause. So the same energy and aspirations that was behind Goodie Mob [are behind Gnarls]. This is just a very humane version and side of me. It’s the most human I’ve ever been because a lot of times you forget that human beings are soldiers, you just [call them] soldiers. And that’s what Goodie Mob was, although there was humanity in that as well.

I want more black people to educate and inform themselves on other music as well. Because I do. When [mainstream media] getting ready to ask me who I know and what reference points can I address to let them know I’m not just ****ing around, I’m versed on it. I listen to everything! And I always have. So it’s not something I’m pretending like, “This gon’ be the new thing, rap meets rock.” It’s not a hybrid theory like that. That’s why I get a little resentful when they associate Gnarls Barkley to Hip Hop, because it’s not in the least bit. [Those songs] are more memoirs than anything.

I had no idea this **** was gonna come pop the way it did. That was the rawest **** I had ever did. But his music, Danger Mouse, it just caused a deep introspection beyond comparison. Even as I was listening to the Gnarls album, it’s truly like an out-of-body experience because I can’t believe that I’ve been that honest. So it’s raw music straight from the heart and soul. There ain’t no cut on it. And it ain’t meant to be commercial in the least bit. But nothing I’ve ever done was really meant to be [commercial]. I’m actually more accustomed to moderate success. I’m fine with those [projects].

DX: Speaking of, The Odd Couple is currently at around 150,000 copies sold, a long way from the platinum plus sales of St. Elsewhere. Is the sophomore effort going to match the commercial success of the freshman outing, or was that just a “Crazy” moment in time?
Cee-Lo: I ain’t really surprised. I hadn’t planned on monkeying around for people for too much longer [anyway]. I’m not about to put on them costumes and feel like I’m here to entertain you like that. And that’s not to insult what we did, I think it was great, but it wasn’t even about that. [But] again, this has to be sucka free. It is underground ****. And if you listen to the [new] album, people love the album. It’s like critically-acclaimed. It’s one of the best albums I’ve ever done or heard. And I make music because of the music I wanna hear. I’m a fan of it as well, so I’m not really trippin’ off of [sales]. It’ll do what it’ll do. But I guarantee you this much, ain’t no [label] foolish enough to drop me. And if they wanted to, they could. They could drop me, and we’ll do it again independently. And we’ll sell that same 150,000 independently. And that’ll be even better! The fact is they’ve already paid me for that album in advance, so now they got to do what they got to do at radio and at MTV and all the political **** to make they own money back.

DX: So you and Danger Mouse as a tag team, that’s forever, it’s another album, or you think this is it for the time being?
Cee-Lo: We got one more album to do. I got one more album to do. I don’t wish to be summed up by Gnarls Barkley either, the same way I didn’t wanna be summed up by Goodie Mob at the time. I don’t wanna be summed up at all. I just wanna do whatever the **** I wanna do. The only bar I’m trying to meet each time is quality. It may be unique, it may be rare, strange, weird, all the words you can use to describe something different, but it’s gon’ be dope.

DX: Well, I just have to acknowledge my hipocrisy, ‘cause I want you to spit again like it’s ’95, but I love this reinterpretation of Carl Douglas’ classic “Kung Fu Fighting” you did with Jack Black for the new Kung Fu Panda animated joint [click to read]. Once that blows up though I’m just afraid you’re never rap again [Laughs].
Cee-Lo: Nah, I got you, man. You got my word. But that’s what it is, I’m just having fun. First, I’m a fan of Jack Black. I was glad that they asked me to be a part of it. I rewrote the words to where they really mean something to me. And they really fall in line with the storyline [of the movie]. It’s not just a novelty song anymore. It’s a real thing. I’m getting an opportunity to veil a message for the kids, say something positive. I’m all about that. It’s karma, man, postivity dude. It’s gonna be positive when I rhyme again. [So] don’t worry about it, man, I got you.