"What I'm Looking For" (RealVideo)
 
| | | | | |  | | |  | | | | | MTV Radio Network: It's been such a long time between albums for you. Do you think when people listen to this album they're going to hear a big difference between this one and the last one?
Da Brat: Oh, yeah. Definitely. I wasn't completely happy with some songs on previous records, or maybe I just didn't like the delivery of my rhymes. Or maybe everybody else liked certain songs, but I didn't. But on this album I liked everything, and I wrote every lyric, every pecan.
MTV: Why was it so long between albums? Where have you been?
DB: Man, it seems like I've been jumping on everybody else's project. When people ask me to do guest appearances, I'm honored.
MTV: Where was "Unrestricted" recorded?
DB: We went to Nashville, JD [Jermaine Dupri] and I and the whole crew, because we actually wanted to be away from all the stress. And it's better when you aren't around too many people you know and are just with your loved ones. So we took it to Nashville. I had never been to Nashville, but they have wonderful studios. It's like a little music city. And it was like we were all of one accord, and we knew what we were going in there to do. There were no distractions.
MTV: You have a lot of guests on the album.
DB: There's Ja Rule, Millie Jackson, there's Twista from Chicago, Kelly Price, Mystikal. And my new artist is on there, his name is 22, he's awesome. I brought a lot of my people from Chicago, 'cause I love helping people, so this album is more like me than any album before. I had all the say-so. And it feels good, because now I'm producing, putting in the work and sleeping when I can. And all the time that you're awake you're trying to think of a song or something creative and different to just keep your name hot and keep that good feeling like you're just sitting on top of the world. [Laughs]
MTV: How long were you working on this album?
DB: We just went in and knocked it out. I don't want to have the wrong estimate, so I don't want to say, but I remember that we just went in and did it. Jermaine was like, "Let's go in, let's go in, let's do a song, let's do a song." And before I knew it we had like 15, 20 songs. This album has more songs than I've ever had before. I think it may have 14 or 15, with a couple of interludes. And the songs are really incredible. To hear it completed is like a miracle to me, it's wonderful. How music can change your whole mood. It's all amazing to me.
MTV: Lyrically, is there a theme running through this album? Is there one specific message that people should get?
DB: No, because there are so many different things. Like the song with Kelly Price, it's about my guy cheating on me and how I feel about it, and wanting to go shoot him and [the] girl up. And another one called "What's On Your Mind?" about me being in a club, on the dance floor, and how a guy's all over me, and I want him to tell me, in detail, what he's thinking. You know, women are so diverse. We can have different sides. Sometimes I'm just a total tomboy, and sometimes I just feel like being a lady, and sometimes I just feel in-between. Your emotions and your feelings change everyday, and I just write about it. And then there are some party songs and "I'll kill you" songs. The theme is "Brat: Unrestricted."
MTV: Do you get asked by other artists to write rhymes for them?
DB: Sometimes I do, but I have to be careful, because then I might have somebody sounding like me. But I write for my own artists. I have a few artists that I'm working on, 'cause I'm trying to get the whole thing together and get this $50 million deal. [Laughs]
MTV: Is that what you're working on?
DB: Hell, yeah! If Cash Money boys and all those people can get thirty million, I feel I'm worth more than that. I'll take some millions. [Laughs]
MTV: So what are you doing, a production deal or record company?
DB: I'm doing a production deal first, and then a record company. I don't want to sign with a record company and then not have them treat my production team right. Then I'm just screwed and stuck for however many years I've signed for.
MTV: So, if it does work out right, are you going to represent Chicago?
DB: Yes, yes. Nobody's brought Chicago yet. And there are so many people and there's so much talent, and it is almost like people are overlooking it. And I see it, and it kills me that I can't do anything, so now I'm really busting my ass to make the difference.
MTV: So when the album hits, are you going on tour, and are you taking a lot of these people with you?
DB: Yes, I'm going on tour. When I go on tour, I plan on taking everyone from Chicago, everybody from the album. They're gonna help make my stage show thicker. Not "the more people the better," 'cause I'm not MC Hammer or anything, but people have specific duties and I think that if they do them well and we all come together that everything will turn out right. Teamwork and loyalty and love and room for understanding and constructive criticism. I don't want any yes-men around me. If it's bad, please tell me it's bad. I only have a few friends, and I love them, because they're honest and loyal and they tell me the truth. If something looks ugly, don't let me walk out there looking crazy. [Laughs] I just want to work, and I want people to see my talent before I get too old, 'cause by the time I get old, I plan to be rich. Super rich.
MTV: You've got a long way to go before you're too old to do this, though.
DB: Yeah, but there are so many things to learn. I just want to concentrate on writing the music and learning the business stuff, one thing at a time and see it through. That's why I work with one artist at a time. Like, right now I only have one artist signed to me. And until his album is completed and we move on to the next thing, I don't want to get anymore.
MTV: How do you consider yourself now? Are you a rapper who's also a businesswoman? Or are you a businesswoman who raps?
DB: I'm a talented entertainer-businesswoman who loves music, but who's dying to dig deeper into the business to come out with platinum and gold and all the jewels and the trinkets. No matter how old I get, I'll never know everything, so I want to keep learning and keep learning, and if I have the tightest business sense, then I'll be the tightest entertainer, you know what I mean? You just gotta tweak it where it works together and sparks. The red wire and the black one -- put them together and get that spark. And you gotta have a level head, and you have to learn how to fall. Get back up and put one foot in front of the other and keep on going and try to keep learning from your mistakes.
MTV: Sounds like a plan.
DB: Well, this is the third time out, and I wanna go triple platinum. Three times a lady, three times Da Brat, three times platinum. I want to always be in everybody's face, to say, "It's me, I'm here whether you like it or not." Love me or hate me, I'm going to be around making this music, because it's my love and my gift.
MTV: Different energy. 
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