David Banner reflects on his life and Hip-Hop in America


David Banner has a personality that will make you his best friend or his worst enemy. Hopefully, it won’t be the latter. What else would you expect from an individual who adopted the moniker of the television show character The Hulk?

Upon my arrival at Strip, the trendy restaurant nestled in Atlanta’s Atlantic Station, I’m hopeful that Banner will not be delayed by the rain and storm that has been sporadic throughout the day. As I attempt to use my phone which has no signal, Banner graciously appears in front of me. He is tall, has a captivating smile, and wears a t-shirt which displays his well maintained physique. This man embodies confidence, which if you are not observant may be mistaken for arrogance. He has arrived and he knows it. Not bad for a guy from Mississippi who never thought they would see the type of success he has accomplished.

He politely reaches for my hand, kisses it and nods with a slight gesture of respect as if he is bowing to a Queen. It is clear that his Southern upbringing taught him how to acknowledge a lady. Who was it that said chivalry was dead? While waiting to be seated, he tells me that the business has taught him to be more than punctual. He prefers to be early, which is why he had been taking in the ambiance at the bar for thirty minutes prior to our meeting. “I hear people say they say they want the rapper that is on time. I was here before you were” Banner says in jest.

My goal is to find out who the man is behind the music and to delve into the spotlight that is his permanent shadow. One thing is certain, when Banner speaks people listen. In 2006, he was the recipient of the Visionary Award from the National Black Caucus of the Legislature in recognition of his work after Hurricane Katrina. In 2007, Banner testified in front of Congress on the topic of African American stereotypes in the media. Inside of Hip-Hop culture and abroad, his candor on the issues that we face in the community is continuously sought out.

There seem to be two sides to Banner. One that is very serious whose words can be piercing, and one who is comical and spirited. Banner’s persona and experiences may be a classic example of life imitating art. Typhoeus, a god in Greek mythology was known as a fire breathing dragon with hundreds of heads who battled the god Zeus for the territory of heaven. This can be paralleled to the battle Banner takes on against society in the effort to defend Hip-Hop.

A few things get his blood boiling: Fickle Hip-Hop fans, mediocrity pervading the music and culture and the ills of society being placed on rap music. “We have allowed our music to be reduced to the WWF, or a wrestling match. Out of everything [you hear] that has to do with a rapper, nothing is connected to his talent for the most part. I want a person to judge me based on my credentials,” says Banner.

He stands tall fighting against injustice. He respects those who have paved the way and believes that 2Pac, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Medgar Evers families shouldn’t ever have to work. Mercurial in nature, the tone of his conversation can change at the drop of a hat. While many are afraid of the backlash of their words, he steps out on faith-ready to take a hit for what he believes in. In his heart of hearts, he wants to change the world, but knows that he needs an army of comrades to make it happen. After all, he is just a man and a product of his environment.


Dione M. Davis: What makes your new album, The Greatest Story Ever Told, significant and what can your fans expect from it?

David Banner: I can tell you what my fans can expect from it, but even that is left to interpretation. I’ve always had a target or a mission statement for all of my albums, but most people seem to miss it. I want people to interpret my album as a classic album. I hear all of the negative things people say about rap music and I have dispelled most of them with this album. If people don’t pick up on this album like their supposed to, f--- all of that s--- people talk. I honestly think most Americans are hypocritical liars. People say they want one thing, but that’s not really what they want. They’re just saying what television tells them they should say or the way that they should think. You have the positive rappers that are doing positive things. You have rappers that are putting out classic albums, but that’s not what it’s about. It’s really about your swag, who you punched, slapped, or slept with. With this album it’s good music, good lyrics. You’re going to get a little bit of the David Banner, a little bit of head bussin’, al little bit of pimpin’, a little God…well a lot of God, and a little politics. In talking about politics, that’s one of my only criticisms about rap music. All of the misogyny and things people complain about, I don’t think that’s the problem with rap. Rap music was always designed to be the voice of the people. Right now we are in a recession. I don’t hear anybody talking about that. We are at war. We truly are a reflection of the streets and of life. There’s a lot of s--- going on that nobody’s talking about. I don’t just mean the rappers. R&B singers, Rock, Country, Soul, who ever.

DMD: What have you been through in your personal life since the last album that brings something different to this album?

DB: My father died, Pimp C died who was a really good friend of mine, Static [Major] died. Two years ago I had one of the top singles in the United States if not the world with “Play” and Katrina happened and I put my focus on that. Not that I expected anything out of it, but I always thought that if you did the right thing, that you would be rewarded for it. I had one of the biggest records in the nation. It sold 380, 000 copies. It’s cool, but I realized that if you do the right thing, do it because it’s for God. I hear people talking all of this we want the rapper that’s on time, does the right thing, stays in the community, and stays down for the hood. That s--- don’t mean nothing. You gotta make a hit record, that’s all it’s about. I realized that I do the things that I do because that’s the right thing to do and I do it on my personal time. If I do it on my music time then I have to be prepared for the repercussions. God has allowed me to see what you get. On the flip side, what I did separated me from other rappers. This may be a contradiction in terms, but looking at it from another perspective; I’ve been separated from other rappers too. People don’t necessarily just look at me as just David Banner the rapper.

DMD: How have you been separated? Do you feel that who you are and your outspokenness on certain political issues has made you a target?

DB: I’m a target anyway. I’m young, black and quite dashing, look at me! (Laughs)
I’m a target because I’m a rapper first of all. I’m young, black and successful. I’m a target because I look good. The one thing I watched people do to Pac [2 Pac] that nobody ever peeped…I know people who were personally really good friends with Pac. When Pac caught that rape case, he wasn’t even in the room when that girl got violated. He was on the couch passed out. He didn’t touch the girl when they got to the room. The one thing that America knew was that Pac was the first gangsta rapper that was attractive to women. So what would be the smartest thing for you to do? Discredit him with women.

DMD: You recently appeared on the panel of Hip Hop vs. America II on BET. There was a concern about you being portrayed as the angry black male

DB: Women love me. The way they chopped it and edited it, it made it seem as if I was angry or mad. The truth is, what I was saying was, there is a problem with misogyny. There is a problem with the way that women are treated, but it has nothing to do with rap. Rap is only a microcosm of what’s really going on in America. America has always raped women, pillaged women, and used women. I just saw a shaving gel commercial, where he sprayed the shaving gel and 20 women came out and were dancing on the mans face! What do women have to do with shaving gel? What do women on the sidelines with very short skirts jumping up and down have to do with a man running a football?
We’re cowards. Men, women, black white whoever you are. We won’t speak about who the real aggressors are. What we do is turn it around and put it on young black men. Young black men don’t protect themselves. Women don’t protect their men anymore, in the sense of standing up for them, but they will definitely get on TV and talk about them and down grade them; they won’t build them up. We know the white society is not going to do anything for black men. It’s easy to turn and put every problem on young black men.

DMD: The weight of misogyny in Hip-Hop falls on black men…

DB: Not that we don’t have responsibility.

DMD: What do you feel women as consumers, mothers, and record label executives should be doing?

DB: Not s---. I think what we should do is realize it is what it is. It’s a business. If we are going to have a problem, have a problem with movies or TV that’s more risqué’ than it’s ever been. Have a problem with sports. I remember when they were attacking Nelly, and I produced Tip Drill, so all the women at Spelman come holla at me too. They won’t holla at me, they’ll attack Nelly cause I’ll break they a—off. Don’t target Nelly. Let’s really talk about the real problems at hand. As a matter of fact, white society loves black women more than they love their own women when you really think about it. In saying that, I want people to stop being cowards talking about David Banner who counsels women, has programs set up to help to help mold the minds of young women. They won’t talk about the rappers who don’t do s---. They only attack the safe rappers who are really trying to do something.

DMD: Back to your music, as a producer your working with Chris Brown and Lil Wayne…

DB: Tha Carter III, so much publishing money…I’m rich

DMD: What is it about a David Banner track that keeps people coming back?

DB: It’s a double edged sword. It’s what keeps some people coming back and some people away. I’m talented. Most music out here doesn’t have any talent connected to it. A lot of people are scared of anything that’s outside the mold of what they hear on the radio. I think what keeps talented artists attracted to me is the dexterity of my tracks; not knowing what David Banner is coming with next. The track that I did for Lil Wayne was actually for Shrek III. It was for a cartoon, it was never for rap. They ended up getting Timbaland and Pharrell to do it and the track was still open. I let Lil Wayne hear it and he jumped on it. Rappers want a beat that gets instant gratification. Most artists that deal with me want classic albums that stand the test of time. It may or may not be accepted when you first hear it. I saw a blog that said David Banner tracks are strange. People say they don’t want the same snap tracks, even though I don’t have a problem with that, or the same fruity loops tracks, or Rubber Band Man 45,000 times over again. If you don’t give them that then they complain about it.

DMD: What is in a David Banner track?

DB: I think a little bit of everything. If you could make a thesis paper or track on what has happened in America in the last 25 years, it would be a David Banner track. Whether it’s a little bit of The Police, (because we didn’t have a choice in watching MTV), Culture Club, UGK, Sun Ra, Bjork, 808 State, Curtis Mayfield, A Tribe called Quest, Souls of Mischief, Tung Twista (before he was Twista), bounce music from New Orleans- I’m a combination of all of that. When you come and get a David Banner track you are getting a student of the game. Not just somebody who is a student of East Coast music or West Coast music. I love all music.

DMD: How has your acting been going and what has it taught you?

DB: It’s going very well. It is something I could never have imagined that I would be able to do coming from Mississippi. It’s a definite blessing. Acting is probably what I want to do with the rest of my life. The negative side of it is that acting is no different from rap music. I don’t want to have to be a n---- in everything that I do. I’m already David Banner the n---- in music. One of the biggest problems that I have is that I’m so much more. My fans nor American media will allow me to be anything else. I went into acting so I could be creative, but the truth is they barely let you be anything besides the dope dealer riding in your Cadillac Escalade telling jokes. I want to be the next Will Smith. I don’t want to be the next step and fetch it.

DMD: How do you think that is going to change?

DB: I just called Ice cube and asked him to teach me the ropes so I can start developing and making my own movies. I want to do the Tom Cruise roles. One thing that made me very proud is when I saw Will Smith in Hancock. I want to be the superhero. I don’t always want to be the bad guy. So, it’s a process.

DMD: After Hurricane Katrina, you stepped to the forefront with Heal The Hood. Describe what you felt initially your first time going back home to Mississippi.

DB: It’s hard to describe because I’ve never seen anything like it. The closest thing I can say is if you go back and look at Mad Max Beyond The Thunderdome, that’s the closest thing I’ve ever seen to it. It changed my life. It’s one of the things that have allowed me to understand that no matter what happens in my life, I am truly blessed. Good or bad even though I want the best, and I want to be the best, I’m very fortunate. I can never let go of the sight of how much I’m blessed.

DMD: What changes have you seen in your community and in the people as a whole since Katrina?

DB: I don’t think that much has changed in Mississippi, because people won’t focus on Mississippi. It’s not a tourist attraction. What people don’t understand about Katrina is that it didn’t hit New Orleans. New Orleans got the residuals of Katrina. New Orleans didn’t get affected until the day after Katrina, because it was flooded. If the local government would have spent money on what they were supposed to spend it on (rebuilding the levies), New Orleans would have never been affected. Mississippi and Alabama were hit by Katrina. The thing about Mississippi is we know that nobody is coming there to help us, so we don’t expect it or demand it.

DMD: Talk to me a little more about your community involvement.

DB: Well, I do a lot. I mentor, tutor, I do the Boys & Girls Club. The year before last I gave away $50,000 in the hood for Christmas-I mean me walking around knocking on doors myself. You can check it out on you tube. This year I gave away $30,000. What I do is what I do. I just wish that it meant more to people. It sure would make us feel a lot better if people would support good people.

DB: Go buy my album. I got Snoop Dogg, Chris Brown, Lil Wayne, Akon, UGK, Kandi from Xscape, a lot of people. People want to talk all of this political s--- then people won’t buy my album. Go buy my album!!!

DMD: If Obama is elected, how is that going to change the country?

DB: I don’t know. We have never had a black president before. So, I would only be speaking in a hypothetical sense. We’ve never had anybody that wasn’t a part of the good ol’ boy network. I just hope that our focus as young black and Latino males should
stop making excuses. Now we have an opportunity to take our generation in our own hands and get it out of the hands of the good ol’ boy network. If we truly want Change, this is our opportunity. If we don’t get off of our a—it won’t happen.

DMD: At your promotional event yesterday, there was a little boy who got up there with you during your performance and almost stole the show…

DB: No, he did steal the show, that’s good!

DMD: Afterwards, you started talking about the importance of encouraging young black men. Tell me your thoughts on that.

DB: I just think we talk too much and don’t really encourage those who are doing something. Yesterday in the show there was a young man who got on the stage and he really did a good job. There was just lackluster applause. One of the things that helped me rise up out of the situation that I was living in Mississippi, was that my grandparents always told me I was beautiful. Even when dark skinned males weren’t in style, my mama told me I was beautiful. In saying that, we have to encourage our children because negativity will. That’s all they see on TV and in the streets. Kids are the most intelligent beings on this earth, because they are the most honest. You have to be honest with them. If you applaud and make them feel good about doing something with positive reinforcement, then they will be ok.

DMD: What are the missing pieces that people need to know about David Banner?

DB: Right now, hopefully my music stands tall enough for people to want to go buy my album. I’m not perfect. Most of the people we look up to are lying. With the exception of mentally, I’m a pretty normal person. I don’t know an artist who has everything right in their head. When God blesses you to think on certain frequencies and you are able to mentally reach certain heights, you can’t just specifically siphon that towards music. It effects your whole life; your whole train of thought. I’m strange. I’m finally at peace with that. I’m not normal. I will never be.

DMD: You are crazy, but that’s not a bad thing

DB: In some cases.

DMD: As far as your education, you are working towards your master’s degree?

DB: No, I dropped out of school.

DMD: How long ago was that?

DB: I don’t remember. I am a semester and a thesis away from my master’s.

DMD: What were you studying?

DB: I got my undergrad in business and my master’s in education. I’ve always wanted to go back to be a professor, but I wanted to be a rich professor…like close to a billionaire so I can show other people in urban surroundings how to get money. I got my undergrad at Southern University in Baton Rouge, which is the largest as well as the greatest historically black college in the whole entire universe. I was getting my master’s at the University of Maryland.

DMD: If you were to become a professor, what would you teach?

DB: Reality. They can put me in any class: English, Sociology, Biology. I’m going to teach kids what they need to learn in order to be successful in life.

DMD: What do you feel is your purpose right now and what is the next step in achieving your mission?

DB: I said to God once that I wanted to ride this roller coaster that he had for me and that hopefully it wouldn’t be too painful. But in the end I just want to be with God. When you are riding a roller coaster and you don’t know where your destination is, it’s really hard for you to pin point your true mission. I’m just a soldier for God. What ever mission he sends me out on, if I deem it a mission from God truly, then that’s what I’m on. It will never be understood by humans and I don’t expect it to be. I hope it’s a righteous mission.

DMD: You’re passionate about a lot of things and you seem very fearless

DB: No, I’m not fearless. I fear, but I don’t allow my fear to control me. Everybody is fearful. God made us animals and put fear in our bodies to warn us. Fear is only a warning for you to be watchful and precautious. I fear a lot.

DMD: In closing, what advice do you have for your fans out there pursuing their dreams?

DB: Get your spirit together. Any time you chase a dream, or anything that’s worth anything it’s going to be hard. Everybody tries to make it look easy. It’s funny, I see a lot of web sites poke fun at me because I sweat a lot when I do my shows, but sweat shows perseverance. It shows that I work hard for you and I’m giving you every ounce of everything that I have. America has made people feel as if everything is easy. You have to work hard. Life is not easy. Pursuing your dreams is not easy. If it were everybody would be doing it and nobody would be working.