For Beanie Sigel, his album's title is plain and simple — there is no hidden meaning as some were speculating.

"There's always a reason behind the truth," he said, chuckling as he explained the name of The Reason, the follow-up to his debut, The Truth (1999).

"I just kept the rawness of my style on the first album," Sig said of the LP's vibe. "Rap is too happy right now. Besides the Roc, it's weak." While the last two-and-a-half years have seen Beans' gutter-scouring lyrics earn him a reputation as one of the top MCs in the game, he does hint that his first album could've used some fat trimming.

"[On The Truth,] I touched on a lot of different topics on songs like 'Everybody Wanna Be a Star,' 'Mac Man' and 'Playa.' Sigel is the artist," said Beans, who was introduced to world as Beanie Mac on Jay-Z's 1998 song "Reservoir Dogs." "When I got on [Roc-a-Fella], 'Sigel' was the name they gave me, but guess who's back?" The Truth went gold with minimal airplay at radio and video outlets, a big difference from releases by his boss Jay-Z. However, Roc-a-Fella Co-CEO Damon Dash has said in the past that he takes pride in Beanie putting out albums catered to the streets and refuses to make his artist change his formula. There is still no video for "The Reason" despite its June 12 release date creeping up.

"The first album went gold — that's great for me," Beanie said. "I would've love to come out and go double-platinum. But say you come out and just go platinum on your second album — that's failure to me. I got room for improvement." Faultfinding is something Beans and his Roc-a-Fella familia are getting real familiar with these days. Memphis Bleek faced off with Nas on record, Beanie Sigel and Philly newjack Freeway blasted Nas and Mobb Deep during a freestyle session on Funkmaster Flex's New York-based Hot 97 radio show, and Jayo Felony and Mobb Deep's Prodigy recently spewed venom at Jay-Z.

"We got the titles right now," Beans said matter-of-factly. "People want the belts. Step in the ring, we don't turn down no fights." Beans, who now also goes by the nickname the Gooch, said there is no resolution in sight to the feuding records. "We ain't squashing nothing," the rapper said defiantly. "For what? ... I ain't no peacemaker. I ain't waving no white flag." Sigel was however, forced to give up on getting Mary J. Blige to appear on his album. He wanted the singer on "For the Record," a duet with Jay-Z that uses the same sample she used for "I Love You" on her My Life (1994) album. He does have a replacement in mind, though. "I'm looking forward to working with Sunshine Anderson. She's new, kinda blazin', kinda cute." Two people that Beanie was able to lock down were DPG members Daz Dillinger and Kurupt. He also appears with them on their new album as well as on the remix of Jay-Z's "Change the Game" on DJ Clue's latest LP.

"Their chemistry is sick," Beans said of the group formerly known as the Dogg Pound. "What Daz and Kurupt have, I hope me and Bleek get. Every song we do is crazy, but I'm searching for more."