iHipHop Interview- G. Dep: Once Lost, Now Found..

Back in the early 2000’s the once powerful juggernaut known as Bad Boy Records was still reeling from the loss of the Notorious B.I.G. It was clear to see that instant hit machine was now in a rebuilding period, and a date for the construction to end was nowhere in sight.

Even with that tragedy, the one-man media magnet, Diddy himself still managed to circle his wagons long enough for his troops to carry the flag that was dropped by Hip-Hop’s greatest commander.

It wasn’t that they were trying to take the place of “Frank White,” but just live on in true Bad Boy fashion as [he] would want them to. One of the soldiers released from the boot camp hit the battlefield running and gave the world some shoulder dance called the “Harlem Shake.”

Trevell “G. Dep” Coleman might not have performed the short-lived dance step, but the only way to catch a good look at it back then (before YouTube) was in the video for ‘Lets Get It.’ It then continued in his solo single ‘Special Delivery’ and spawned an album called Child Of The Ghetto.

But after all of that steam, he vanished from the label, and talks of him being dropped while squandering his $350,000.00 five-album deal payout soon followed.

Now, seven years later with a new lease on life and his personal demons conquered, the man familiar with being on top aims at climbing the mountain one more time to prove that lightning can strike twice; as he continues on his road to redemption.

iHipHop.com: What have you been up to lately?

G. Dep: We’re just running around right now, me and the whole fam, me and [DJ] E.Nyce.

iHipHop.com: How did you and [DJ] E.Nyce hook up?

G. Dep: He was basically a Godsend… He was always doing his thing, and I had ran into him way back when I was still doing the thing with Bad Boy. He was DJ’ing for me back then, and we just kept working even after I had the Bad Boy situation. Even though that had died down, we still just kept doing music together.

iHipHop.com: I know you guys had put out The Deputy: The Sheriff Is Back In Town, Deponomics, and some other mixtapes, but what can people expect to hear from your official project?

G. Dep: Well the mixtape stuff is like scattered ideas, but my album is going to have more of an outlook to it. It’s going to have more of a movie effect to it, like more of a book with an opening and a closing to it.

iHipHop.com: Who are you working with this time around?

G. Dep: Right now we have [DJ] E.Nyce doing his thing, Ron Brownz is going to be on a couple of joints, Needlez, and I got a joint with [Dame] Grease; so we might try to put that on the album.

iHipHop.com: Before you had put out the mixtapes we just talked about, and the joint album you did with Loon; obviously Child Of The Ghetto was your last official release back in 2001. Was it hard for you to get back into the flow of things?

G. Dep: I never left the studio to be honest with you… Even though I had that album out, cats were wondering what I was doing, and I was always in the studio trying to do something. I was always working, that’s why I still have a lot of material. Right now we have enough music to hold it down long enough until we get another situation going on.

iHipHop.com: So during that lay off, were you still making music?

G. Dep: Yeah, basically… I had some personal business that I was ironing out, because I was going through my little thing, but I was still always making music even if you didn’t see me, I was always behind the scenes.

iHipHop.com: Do you think it will be hard to re-introduce yourself to Hip-Hop fans since you’ve been out of the public eye for a while now?

G. Dep: I don’t know how hard it is to get back to form, but it’s all about maintaining consistency. That’s the only part that can be an uphill battle at times

iHipHop.com: During that hiatus period, did you think your opportunity of making music on a high level again might be over?

G. Dep: Well I really had to thank the streets for always hollering at me, and wanting me to keep it moving. I was always going to make music regardless; you know what I mean?

iHipHop.com: What exactly did happen with your situation at Bad Boy?

G. Dep: Really, I can’t even call it man… It was one of those things where it just could’ve been a conflict of interest. It was one of those things where I was doing whatever I wanted to do, and we [Diddy] just fell off the same page with each other.

iHipHop.com: So if you could go back to that time, what would you have done differently career-wise?

G. Dep: I know now that you have to stay busy… You can’t relax and be like, “Yeah I made it!” “It’s a wrap, we did it!” There is never enough work, and there is always something to do. I realize that now, because before when I was just laying up chilling, cooling, and partying; I could’ve been networking, shooting a video, or putting out a mixtape.

There isn’t any time to be idle when you’re doing this thing, especially if you’re trying to be the best you can be. You have to be willing to grow, and give everything…

iHipHop.com: Have you ever gotten discourage during your road back?

G. Dep: Yeah, you may sometimes have doubts and get discouraged. You might think like, “Damn, it’s a wrap, what do I really have to do?” Sometimes you might think you come to that point where you’re going to have to kick rocks for a while…

iHipHop.com: Did you ever think about getting out of Hip-Hop all together, and just doing something else?

G. Dep: Even when I felt like it was a wrap; I was still writing rhymes. That’s the kind of stuff that kept me going.

iHipHop.com: Do you think it will be hard to get your voice heard with all the younger talent basically taking over?

G. Dep: For sure, I ain’t no spring chicken… But you have to be ready to run with these young boys out here by putting all of your effort into it, and hopefully you break through enough that cats will still know that you’re still breathing.