I’ll never forget the first day I saw Rich Boy up close. It was at the 2006 BET Hip-Hop Awards, in Atlanta. “Throw Some D’s” was the biggest hit on the radio at the time. But because I hardly listen to radio, I almost paid a hefty price. I was busy taking pictures on the Red Carpet alongside other journalists and photojournalists when some skinny dude in a modest outfit strolled out and struck a pose. I watched in confusion as 50 cameras shuttered simultaneously. An older shutterbug next to me, who had been relying on my “hip-hop expertise” to ID the rap stars the whole time, leaned over and asked, “Who’s that guy?” I had no clue this time. But, I decided to snap “that guy” anyway. “Who knows,” I thought to myself, “he might end up becoming famous.”

Fast forward to 2008. Rich Boy is not just famous, he’s so popular that if you placed him side by side with the mayor of his city in a classroom full of teens, the students would easily identify Rich Boy and wonder if the other guy is their new substitute teacher. Oh wait, that’s the inspiration behind Rich’s upcoming mixtape, Bigger Than the Mayor (April 15th). On the heels of his re-up album, Buried Alive, and a spanking new mixtape, I caught up with Alabama’s favorite son to pick his brain on music, politics, and life.

Pull up a seat and enjoy the conversation.

Rich Boy: I’ve been working on my album coming up called Buried Alive. I’ve been putting a lot of time into it.

Buried Alive? What inspired that title?
I got a lot of kinfolks a lot of family members that call me from prison all the time. I was just thinking about the court system and people that have been caught up in a wrong situation, that have been sentenced to life. It’s just like being buried alive. It’s like being dead alive – you’ll never come back to the regular world once you’re sentenced to life.

You addressed that briefly on “Let’s Get This Paper” Why did you wait so long to release that?
The label didn’t want to put that type of song out. I don’t know what their reason was. But that’s a song I was passionate about and I really believed in that song. I felt like that song was me moreso than any other song on the album. I just wanted to make sure that people get the message and understand that this is the real Rich Boy – this is what I represent.

My first album was me learning how to rap. You know I never rapped before really working on my first album. By the time I found myself that’s when I did that song. And I felt good about that song.

Which song from your first album makes you cringe?
It would be “Let’s Get This Paper”

Your new mixtape is titled Bigger Than the Mayor. If you could play one song for the mayor to prove that you’re bigger than the mayor, which song would you pick and why?
It’d probably be a song called “To the Top” because it covers all basis of why I’m bigger than the mayor. My confidence level is a way I came off on that track. You could feel me, you could feel why I feel like that.

Right
I actually came up with that title cause I was thinking one day when I was growing up who the mayor was, and I couldn’t remember who the mayor was. I thought “You know what? I f I stepped in the classroom and the mayor stepped in the classroom full of young children, they’ll know who I was before they know who the mayor was. And it’s true.

They’ll probably know who you are before they know who the Vice-President is.
Yeah, they’ll know who Soulja Boy is before they know half of the people in politics.

That’s the reality.
That’s reality, man. It ain’t a cocky title. It’s actually the truth. I might not be more important than the mayor, but I’m bigger than the mayor.

Did you ever feel the need or pressure to top “Throw Some D’s”?
I just feel that, you know, the difference between me and other artists – I just figured it out – is you gotta be yourself, man. Just try to be as great as you can be. If I could live this life to be great before I die. I just try to put great music together before I die. I can do all kinds of music, man. I can dumb it down, I can get real intelligent. It just depends on how I feel on that day.

How would you describe the Rich Boy sound?
I’d say my style is a passionate deep southern sound.

Artists sometimes get pigeonholed because of their background or style. Do you feel like you’ve been pigeonholed as an artist because of your southern background?
Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. It depends on what type of crowd you’re around, you know. If I’m around an open-minded crowd I won’t feel boxed in.

How will your new album, Buried Alive, differ from your debut?
My next album will be more me than anything else. It won’t be like an experiment like my first album was. That was me trying to find myself trying to find my style. I might get a few features here and there, but I’m not focused on features. I’m not even thinking about the usual industry way, I’m just trying to do great music.

I know Polow da Don was all over the first album. Are you working with him again?
Yeah, me and Polow worked on the first one a lot. It’s like half-and-half this time. He’s been super busy, so I really had to take it upon myself to just still put it together.

Besides Polow…
Besides Polow, there’s a guy named Jay Toven, Drumma Boy, a guy named Super Villain, and um…and me. I wanna get some tracks from DJ Toomp also.

So you’re doing some production as well?
Yeah. I actually produced over half of the mixtape.

Have you been paying attention to the presidential election?
Yeah, every now and then I tune in and watch. You know, it’s crazy. There’s a real thin line between racism and this race. You can mess around and pick somebody your same race and they’ll do a terrible job.

Who’s speaking to you the most among the candidates?
I think Obama because they haven’t found a flaw in him yet. Once they find a flaw, then I’d probably think different. But I haven’t found a fault in him yet. But I also go for Hillary because she was a strong woman that stood by her husband even though he cheated on her. I like that about her. “Till death do us part,” she really stood by that. So you gotta respect her on family morals also.

We all know that no matter how talented or hardworking an artist may be, criticism is inevitable. How do you prepare yourself for negative criticism?
I just understand that that’s part of the world. If you have no one that’s saying anything bad, you’re not doing nothing good enough for anybody to pay attention to. So, that to me means that you are becoming successful.

It’s a good problem to have, isn’t it?
Yeah, I see it’s a great thing. It’s also motivation and fuel for success.
If you could play God and bring back one dead rapper to life, who would it be?
I’ll probably bring back 2Pac.

Why 2Pac?
I’d like to see whose career would still be here if he was alive. I would like to see even if the south would still be here if 2Pac was alive.

One thing you carry with you no matter where you go.
Man, I always carry my Bible with me.