Glasses Malone.

TODAY IS THE OPENING of LA's hot new West Coast hip hop vinyl/mixtape store, aka Lab Records on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood, CA. And we're kicking it, waiting for Watts rapper Glasses Malone to show up. Glasses is going to do an in store to promote his new album Beach Cruiser and officially launch the store. Glasses has gone from slinging crack rock and Sherm PCP on the streets of Watts to slinging hot mixtapes on the streets of LA, Europe and Japan. His two big selling mixtapes The Crack Mixtape and White Lightning attracted the attention of The Game's BlackWallStreet and West Coast legendary producer Dr Dre, not to mention numerous major record labels. We got a chance to grab an exclusive interview with the man and rap about the new formed alliance between Crips and Bloods, getting butt-naked on Sherm in the 'hood, and why the West Coast don't support West Coast hip hop artists. Watts up?

Yeah, yeah, G Malone in the building. Watts in the building?

Watts up! Watts up!

So what you got crack-a-lackin' right now?

Shit man, I'm working on this new record called Beach Cruiser to be released later this year, and my new mixtape Tha Sermon out this summer, July 4th. Got a lot of hot niggas on there--Tyrese, DJ Quik, so many hot niggas on there. My man Game dropping heat on there, Crooked I on there, Spider on there. It's called Beach Cruiser, everybody loves a Beach Cruiser. People love those bikes in the 'hood. It's classic.

Mainly West Coast-ish?

Nearly all West Coast shit.

How about West Coast hip hop right now?

It's coming together, we trying to put it down. Snoop's trying to put everything together. I got a cameo on Snoop's and Game's new video. I'm on top of the car. Snoop is a cool dude. Game came out and really did his thing big. And that's a blessing right now, we got every door in America open to any West Coast artist who's bubbling half way. You know the West Coast love everybody but the West Coast.

You got no love from the West Coast?

I'm one dude who gets love in the streets of LA from Crips, Bloods, Eses, everybody.

What about the Yay Area?

Yeah, the Bay always been popping. They don't even need the rest of the world, they don't care about nobody else. They going to get their bread regardless.

You fucking with Dr Dre?

Yeah, I'm doing a record with Dre. I just ain't sure which one yet. I'm trying to be an artist that comes up independent of Dre's name. That don't mean we ain't going to work together. I met Dre, he was the first person ever to tell me I got a hit record. Love to Dre. I just wanted to show that you can make hit records without Dre being behind you. I want to luck with DJ Quik. He is a musical genius. Hi Tek and Denaun Porter too.

Is the West going to be a force to compete with the South and East Coast in hip hop?

Definitely. We got guys coming up who are capable of rapping right and making hit records, whether it be battling or just straight rapping.

Snoop is really working on unifying the West Coast now?

I wouldn't give that credit to Snoop alone because a lot of cats my age from the younger generation have been doing that before Snoop came in to bring the West together. Big Y is a Blood from Inglewood; I'm a Crip. Me and Game, that's a Crip and Blood together right there. Crooked I is from Long Beach, Spider is from the other side of Watts. Guerilla Black and Bishop Lamont, he's my right-hand man. He's from Carson. So we all working together.

Hip hop is unifying cats all over the world.

It's like life, people can just meet. That's how it goes. Hip hop is the thing. There's a cat from England called Blast. I met him on the Internet on a mixtape website. He is nasty, nasty. I met him online, we talked, and now he on The Crack Mixtape. He is vicious.

You blowing up off of mixtapes?

Yeah. I first dropped The Crack Mixtape with my boy and my brother, we did that. It sold 2,000 off the bat just in Watts alone.

Now you got White Lightning blowing up.

Yeah, that's blowing up across the world. It's a lovely thing, the Internet. You can sell your music all over the world.

You're a Crip. BlackWallStreet are all Bloods. How did you connect?

Watts and Compton are right next to each other. When I sold The Crack Mixtape it sold around Compton and Watts. Name started buzzing. People started talking about me. I had a song already on there with Game. Then I got a picnic invite from Big Fase over at BlackWallStreet, so I went and met all those cats. We all met up and I wasn't scared to be around natural enemies, as we say, me being a Crip, them being Bloods. It's been love ever since.

Is there unity between Bloods and Crips?

We trying. Watts has always been like that, Bloods and Crips been clicked up forever. We trying to do it now more than ever, 'cause we see what's going on. Especially musically, we all got to get financial gain and feed our families.

RIPs?

Mixmaster Spade, he is one of the first West Coast niggas that made it cool for other West Coast niggas to come out. All my niggas who died, Game's homie, the Fo' Cent, all the cats in the street who died and never got heard. All the legends that no one even mentions. Rest in peace.

Shout outs?

BlackWallStreet, Big Fase, G Ride, Esco, all of Compton and Watts, DJ Vlad, DJ Warrior. All the Cali untouchable niggas, Dom P the Chemist, DJ Trasha and Shelby Woods and Thrasher magazine, everyone who showing me love. All of the West Coast, Watt's up?