RON ARTEST, baller and rapper. Click photo to enlarge

Interview by Shivani Khanna
Gargoyle assistant editor
Posted Friday, Sept. 22, 2006, The OG, arts

Ron Artest is known as one of the top players in the NBA — and one of the most controversial. When he's not getting in trouble with league officials for his actions or comments, he's raising eyebrows with his hip-hop career. The Chicago Bulls drafted the Artest in 1999 out of St. John's University. The 6-foot-7 forward-guard quickly made a name for himself with his intense play. The Bulls traded him to the Indiana Pacers in February 2002. After a tumultuous time there, marked by his 73-game regular-season suspension for a November 2004 melee with fans in Detroit, he was traded to the Sacramento Kings in January of this year. Now 26, Artest spends most of his offcourt time with his record company, Tru Warier. Tonight he's in Champaign as the opening act for Ludacris at the Assembly Hall. Gargoyle assistant editor Shivani Khanna spoke to Artest by phone Wednesday night. Here is their conversation.

How are you doing man?
ARTEST: Everything's going well. I just did a music video (for “Fever,” the lead single off his forthcoming album, “My World”) and now I'm getting ready to come down to Champaign.

What have you been up to with Tru Warier lately?
ARTEST: Working on this album — you know it's coming out on Halloween. It's got some features with Juvenile. Doing the show with Luda, Ludacris of course. I've been doing shows this summer with Young Jeezy, Mike Jones, Fat Joe…trying to stay fit and trying to get my name out there.

What's it like going from playing ball with the best players in the world to rhyming with some of the best rappers in the world?
ARTEST: I know right it's kinda cool, right? I'm hoping to get a chance to touch both. It's a little bit different, but it's similar to how Shaq does it. Maybe it's different, but I'm just hoping that people could accept it. Looking at other basketball players that rapped, Shaq was cool, then there was Iverson, and then Kobe.

Do you feel like certain athletes have made it hard for other athletes to be taken seriously in the music industry?
ARTEST: I think, you know, if you take it serious, then people take you serious, you know? If you take your job serious, and not serious like no fun and games but serious like, you know, staying on the ground, continuing. Because, I mean, if you make one good song, then I guess that's a good song, but if you make a bad song, then you're constantly trying to redeem yourself. Some people make a bad song and that's the last song because people have got it into their minds that bad song that they made and not the good songs. I think that I'm staying with it regardless, and I'm going to continue to stay with music and put out albums and stuff, and I'm putting out this album hoping that people will enjoy this album.

Elliot Wilson, editor-in-chief of hip-hop magazine XXL, told the Detroit News Tuesday that Artest may have a rougher time making it in the rap game than he thinks. How do you feel about that?
ARTEST: I mean you know it's a possibility, you know nothing's easy, nothing's free, but I'm not afraid.

What do you wanna say to all those people out there telling you to stop rapping?
ARTEST: You know I'm gonna keep on doing it because it's fun you know, and I've got a couple of fans whether it's one or whether it's a million, and I think there's some truth in that they enjoy seeing me do other things. They're just Ron Artest fans, so I'm going to continue on and continue doing it.

How do you balance your time between Tru Warier and the Sacramento Kings?
ARTEST: You know it's pretty hard, so you've gotta make yourself a plan and then try to stick to it. I work out and then go to studios, bathe, shave, and then shampoo you know, and make some songs and do my shows and stuff, and that's how I kinda stay on point with everything.

You said you wanted to take time off two years ago to focus on the label. How do you feel about that statement today?
ARTEST: I probably wouldn't do that. That whole statement was made when I was under a lot of pressure and stress at that time, and so I kinda said some things I wish I had never said.

How many closet MCs are there in the NBA?
ARTEST: There are a lot of people in the NBA. Troy Hudson, Steve Jackson…there are a lot of good rappers in the NBA.

Are you the best rapper in the NBA?
ARTEST: I'm not the best rapper, but I've done the most so far outside of Shaq. I think I've done the most as far as touring and coming out with an album, but I'm probably not the best rapper, there are probably rappers better than me in the NBA.

How is the way you play ball similar to your approach to rapping?
ARTEST: Putting the play together and you're just trying to win and whatever it takes to win that's what you've gotta do. It sometimes really works well if you've got an educated play, it's like putting on a really good show and people are really responsive to it.

With so much history coming out of Queensbridge, do you feel the responsibility to help carry the torch?
ARTEST: Yeah, I think it's really important that I hold it down. Queensbridge being such a sacred place for hip hop and everything that comes out of there, so it's important that it be good. So that's really the focus of this show, that my music be good, that when I perform I represent my neighborhood. It's good right now because I've got a lot of top DJs playing my record, a DJ in Miami and a DJ in New York who's gonna play my record, a top DJ in Detroit, a DJ in Orlando, and they're saying they like it. I've got a couple people saying they don't like it, and some are being honest but others are just like hating because I'm playing basketball. But I've got people liking my single and that's an encouraging sign for me.

It seems like the media portrays you to be a crazy dude. Who is the real Ron Artest?
ARTEST: You know I think that the real Ron Artest is just a regular guy, you know, and sometimes the people in the media they just gotta make money and so they get a lot of good ratings and they make a lot of money and some of the multimillionaires and billionaires gotta do they duty to keep on making money. So you just live with it because it's their job, and my job is to play basketball and put out albums. I really don't get upset when those people are trying to make me look not decent, and I think that you let God judge you, and people are just talking and I don't respect their opinions or anything.

Do you have any regrets about how that Detroit incident went down?
ARTEST: I don't really think about it too much. When I was in Detroit I think there were a lot of racist people down there and so maybe that was one of the reasons why, but most of the people were really nice. But it got us in trouble. But I think that he [the Detroit fan who exacerbated the situation by throwing a drink in Artest's face] definitely assaulted me, and he just made me feel like I was nothing you know, and he disrespected me and threw that stuff in the face, and unfortunately the other people supported what the guy did, so it was a bad situation.

Have you talked to Ben Wallace [the Detroit player who started the incident by pushing Artest in the face after Artest fouled him] at all since the incident?
ARTEST: No, I haven't spoken to Ben since then. You know but I'm not really mad at him and what he did as far as that incident as a whole, and I'm kinda over that you know.

Are we going to see a different Ron Artest this year on the court?
ARTEST: Same Ron Artest that you've seen before. Nothing wrong with that, nothing's going to change.

You wore number 91 as a tribute to Rodman. Do you feel that people see you now as the bad boy of the league?
ARTEST: Yeah, probably. Dennis Rodman is a real idol of mine — always a favorite — and I loved the way he played defense.

What is the one thing someone has to have in order to pull off the Ron Artest jersey?
ARTEST: K1x sneakers — they're urban wear but you also have to be a sane and a good person. I don't want no murderers or racists in it, but I definitely could see some fine-looking females.

Are you looking for new artists right now?
ARTEST: No, not right now, it's really too much for me right now with basketball.

How do you feel about being Ludacris' opening act Friday at the Assembly Hall?
ARTEST: It's a blessing, and I thank God for being able to. It's really a blessing to be with him on stage, and I get to perform my single, and I get to do it on the radio too.