Young Bleed first made the national spotlight with his hit “How Ya Do Dat?” that featured Master P. From No Limit Records and Concentration Camp, Young Bleed released 2 solo albums (“My Balls & My Word” & “My Own”) of high quality that represented Baton Rouge, LA with truth and passion. Now, Young Bleed is back as Young Bleed Carleone and he is truly on his own. He is no longer with Master P. He is not involved with Concentration Camp anymore. He’s not even on Priority Records. Young Bleed started his own independent label Da’tention Home Entertainment and he is ready to get back in business… the family business. I had a conversation with Young Bleed while he was recording at Bluff Road Studios.

T.JONES: “How are you doing?”
YOUNG BLEED: “Pretty good, man.”

T.JONES: “So, did you change your name to Young Bleed Carleone? Why?”
YOUNG BLEED: “Nah, it was always that but I never printed it on a record like that there.”

T.JONES: “Tell us about the new album ‘Vintage’. Who’s on it?”
YOUNG BLEED: “I’m introducing a few guys that I have been working with in the past and a few new additions to the Carleone family. We can call ourselves a coalition or a clique or a ‘clique-alition’, whatever you want to call it. It’s the Carleone family, a few cats from around my way. We’re tight like a family. We’re introducing cats like Last Level Carleone, Lucky Knuckles Carleone, the list goes on.”

T.JONES: “Lokey is a producer you used for the new album. How did you meet him?”
YOUNG BLEED: “He’s one of my new homeboys out of Columbus, Mississippi. Actually, his folks ended up living out this way so we ended up linking and making music.”

T.JONES: “What’s your favorite song on ‘Vintage’?”
YOUNG BLEED: “I’m stuck there. I like the whole thing.”

T.JONES: “Who are the people on the album cover?”
YOUNG BLEED: “That’s my grandfather and my uncle. My uncle recently passed away. My grandfather was the person who I got my name from. His name was Good Bleed so my name, Young Bleed, is a tribute back to him. I started writing rhymes when I was living with him during a period in my life. When I mean ‘Vintage’, it goes all the way back to me being a 9-year-old kid. It’s a tribute back.”

T.JONES: “The song ‘N Dis World’ is the single. Are you going to make a video?”
YOUNG BLEED: “It’s a toss up between 3 singles right now. We’re looking to do a video for each one of them. ‘N Dis World’ is jumping off in some areas while ‘Out Dat Dirty’ is jumping off in other areas.”

T. JONES: “How did you meet Uncle Pauly and how did he become your manager?”
YOUNG BLEED: “Me & Pauly grew up in the same neighborhood. Front Street! Butter since we were kids! Elementary school! Little league! We’ve been down for a long time. Baton Rouge!”

T.JONES: “You released your last LP ‘My Own’ on Priority Records. Why did you leave Priority?”
YOUNG BLEED: “Priority merged with Capital and there was that whole transition with another company. In the midst of that, I was working on my album. I wanted to get it done on my own.”

T.JONES: “What is Da’tention Home Records? How did you start that?”
YOUNG BLEED: “We always had it. First, we had an underground label called Criminal Records but Beanie Sigel just came out with a Criminal Records. There’s also a couple of other Criminal Records out there too. We needed to come up with something brand new and ‘Da’Tension Home’ was something that worked for us. That’s what we call around the studio and the area. When the time was present, we presented it.”

T.JONES: “Do you have more creative freedom since it is your label? What is that like? Is the money much better?”
YOUNG BLEED: “Yeah, no doubt! Well, the people control the money. You still have to sell the records. It’s the first project. It’s the first presentation from Da’tention Home Entertainment so we’ll see what is going on. We have new artists and new projects coming out so we will see what happens. We just want things to grow and accumulate.”

T.JONES: “What are some of your musical influences?”
YOUNG BLEED: “Musical influences go a lot of ways. As far as general music, I love that old school sh*t. You can go anywhere from Curtis Mayfield to George Clinton to Jimi Hendrix. I like a lot of that 70’s kind of sh*t. That’s what I’m talking about ‘Vintage.’ Mine is an old style but it’s also new.”

T.JONES: “What are some of your all time favorite hip-hop influences?”
YOUNG BLEED: “Big Daddy Kane, Eric B. & Rakim, Run DMC, LL Cool J, Krs-One, Sugerhill Gang, Melle Mel. I like that old school sh*t. ”

T.JONES: “What was it like growing up in Baton Rouge?” 
YOUNG BLEED: “Ghetto life. It’s the same sh*t everywhere you go. Louisiana is the most private states out of the 50 states. We live under certain laws and crazy sh*t. It gets all sort of ridicules.”

T.JONES: “What were you like as a kid growing up? A good kid? Bad kid?”
YOUNG BLEED: “You know, it was a ghetto life with ghetto love. My family always had debt. I ain’t coming from no rich background. It was what it was. It is what it is. It made me who I am. I let my lyrics tell my own story.”

T.JONES: “During the time of the album cover where you had to live with your Grandfather, why did you have to live there?”
YOUNG BLEED: “That was a different time, a hard time. It’s real, real personal. I can’t talk about it now.”

T.JONES: “The song ‘Murderous’ is an 11-minute long jam session with live instrumentation. How did this come together? Was this your idea? What was it like recording the song?”
YOUNG BLEED: “We have a production team called Da Crime Lab and Lokey is one of the producers. When we created the song, we just jammed on it for a little while and that’s what came up. It evolved.”

T.JONES: “How did you hook up with Too Short on ‘Time And Money’ from ‘My Own’ LP? What was he like to work with?”
YOUNG BLEED: “Short is a cool cat. I ran across Too Short dealing with Priority. We always talked about doing a song together so when the opportunity came, we took advantage of it. Like I said, he’s cool people.”

T.JONES: “What is the last incident of racism that you experienced?”
YOUNG BLEED: “It’s obvious when you visit Louisiana. It’s a whole other ball game out here. It’s the home of the Klu Klux Klan. Imagine being poor, young, and black and growing up down here. It’s a struggle. Just trying to get a job is hard. It can force you into a certain dangerous way of life since there aren’t many opportunities. We have the nice countryside and a few places to visit but if you are looking at opportunity, the best you can probably get if you are young and black is a plant job or something. We got something down here called The Napoleon Law. It’s a real, real old law. We the only state that has parishes. We’re really under some old sh*t and it’s crazy.”

T.JONES: “Abortion – Pro-life or Pro-choice?”
YOUNG BLEED: “I have a few kids myself so I never got into any abortion situation.”

T.JONES: “Death Penalty – For or against it?”
YOUNG BLEED: “I don’t like to judge stuff like that. It’s hard to look at a man and say that it is okay for his life to be taken. God really judges that situation. I don’t feel that anyone but God truly has that authority to call it.”

T.JONES: “Where were you during the Sept. 11th Terrorist attack and how did you handle it? How do you think it will affect hip-hop?”
YOUNG BLEED: “I don’t know, man. It’s kind of crazy. That goes a lot of ways. As far as hip-hop, I don’t think that it has any direct involvement. As far as humanity, I feel that we should unite and write to make songs about the situation. It took a thing like Sept. 11th for people to unify. Before Sept. 11th, I don’t know if people were as unified as they are now. If that’s what it took for God to bring us together…. I’m not saying that it was God’s will when I say that. It was a crime against humanity and everybody suffered.”

T.JONES: “God plays a major part in your music and in the album’s imagery. How has God affected your approach to music making?”
YOUNG BLEED: “No doubt. Look at the covers. I hear people think that things are good or bad due to the profanity. I give glory to God in everything I do. First and foremost, I think this rapping is kind of prophetic. It depends what your aim is with music. Different strokes for different folks.”

T.JONES: “What is the key to surviving in the ghetto?”
YOUNG BLEED: “That’s a crazy question. You have to do what you have to do to stay alive in every sense of the word. And that goes for everywhere, not just the ghetto. Survival, period.”

T.JONES: “How did you hook up with Daz Dillinger on ‘A Hustla’ (from ‘My Own’) and on ‘Hustlaz’ (from Daz’s ‘Who Ride Wit Us’ compilation)? What was he like to work with?"
YOUNG BLEED: “Basically, it was the same thing with Priority Records in California. Daz is cool people. He came out this way. We recorded together and everything is everything.”

T.JONES: “In your albums, you have many references and samples of gangster movies like ‘Scarface’ and ‘The Untouchables’. Do you have an all-time favorite gangster movie?”
YOUNG BLEED: “I can’t just say one. There’s a lot of them but if I had to choose, I would say ‘The Godfather’ and the sequels because of the family orientation of it.”

T.JONES: “Drug of choice?”
YOUNG BLEED: “Take a wild guess… weed.”

T.JONES: “Do you like it in a Blunt or White Owl? Something else?”
YOUNG BLEED: “Whatever, as long as it’s some good weed. Roll it, Smoke it!”

T.JONES: “Do you have a favorite kind of gun?”
YOUNG BLEED: “I don’t glorify guns but everyone does need some protection. I wouldn’t say that I have a favorite kind of gun. It’s a shame if you have to tote a gun.”

T.JONES: “What were you doing before music?”
YOUNG BLEED: “Surviving… anyway that I could. I worked a few places. 9 to 5 gigs.”

T.JONES: “How did you eventually get into the music business?”
YOUNG BLEED: “I’ve been doing it since I was a kid, 9 years old. I started out in a small underground circuit and I met a few people here and there. It became a chain reaction.”

T.JONES: “Word association time. I’m going to say a name of a group or rapper and you tell me the first word that pops in your head. So, if I said ‘Public Enemy’, you may say ‘Revolution’ . Ok?
YOUNG BLEED: "Let's do it."
T.JONES: “Juvenile”
YOUNG BLEED: “Gangsta.”
T.JONES: “B.G.”
YOUNG BLEED: “Gangsta.”
T.JONES: “Goodie Mob”
YOUNG BLEED: “That goes a lot of ways, mind revolution or social consciousness.”
T.JONES: “Outkast”
YOUNG BLEED: “Spiritual pimpish. Versatile.”

T.JONES: “Are there any new songs that you are feeling at the moment?”
YOUNG BLEED: “Right now, I like that new Trick Daddy song with Cee-Lo and Big Boi and them.”

T.JONES: “Do you have a favorite collaboration you did with another artist?”
YOUNG BLEED: “There’s so much stuff and a lot of it is underground stuff that wasn’t released. I would say my Carleone collaborations.”

T.JONES: “What are some major misconceptions people have of Young Bleed?”
YOUNG BLEED: “I don’t know and to be blunt, I really don’t give a f*ck!”

T.JONES: “Married?”
YOUNG BLEED: “Of course.”

T.JONES: “How many kids do you have?”
YOUNG BLEED: “Enough.”

T.JONES: “Did being a father change your approach to making music?”
YOUNG BLEED: “Nah, it’s all the same. It’s all me. It’s my life.”

T.JONES: “Out of your albums, which one is your favorite?”
YOUNG BLEED: “I love all of my albums but I think ‘Vintage’ is my favorite one so far.”

T.JONES: “What can we expect from Young Bleed in the future?”
YOUNG BLEED: “The same ol’ Young Bleed! The same ol’ sh*t! I’ll just continue at what I’m doing. More Da’tention Home and DJ Chill. An LP is coming out soon around January. It’s a Carleone Family album called ‘Family Business’. Sometime in March, my homebody Last Level Carleone is coming out and it’s called ‘The Last Level’. I’m on all of those albums. Everything they do, I’m going to do. Everything I do, they are going to do.”

T.JONES: “What do you want on your epitaph (your gravestone)?”
YOUNG BLEED: “I ain’t going to say that. It’s a secret.”

T.JONES: ‘Any last words for the people who will be reading this?”
YOUNG BLEED: “One life, one love, one God above us all. Keep it real.”