Moving into a more serious topic, since you are an N.W.A. fan, what are your thoughts on the Black Lives Matter movement and the cases of police brutality occurring today?

Yo Gotti: I think it’s f*cked up. Black lives matter. All lives matter. Police are going to be the police, but people look at them to protect and secure certain situations. Don’t nobody look for them to be killers. They gotta figure this sh*t out. Coming from my culture, some parts of it are like, we were almost used to getting beat up by the police. We knew that if the police came in the hood, and we ran, if you got caught, you got beat up. You knew that. So some of it is like…now that the cameras come out and the social media is popular, it’s [shocking]. But that sh*t been happening. It ain’t just start happening. I got beat up by the police a couple of times.

Jeezy provoked a really thought-provoking letter on social injustice recently, where he remarked that there is “a war going on” outside. Do you have any thoughts on that?

Yo Gotti: I mean, there is a war. It’s a war amongst just young n*ggas in the street, period. If you come to North Memphis, or South Memphis, it’s a war going on out there. If you go to Chicago, it’s a war. I’m pretty sure you go to different parts of New York, L.A., there are wars going on right in the hood. Hoods against hoods are right against each other. You gotta know how to move outchea.

Do you have any thoughts on how hip-hop can help?

Yo Gotti: If you look at somebody like Snootie, right, or someone like Blac Youngsta, all these dudes are from the streets. How I try to help is like a domino effect: if I can help to put you in a position, you’ve got to hire or bring somebody close with you.

I think hip-hop can do that. A lot of people talk bad on hip-hop. I think it would be worse without it. Think of how many jobs we give people, or how many people we take out the hood. If I weren’t rapping, what would I be doing? I’d be out there in the war right now. Hip-hop took me out the war. It allowed me to take other n*ggas with me. They used to sell dope, now they get salaries from the music game.

People keep arguing that this is one of the best years in hip-hop that we’ve had in a long time. Who has your ears’ attention from what’s been released in 2015?

Yo Gotti: I like everything that came out recently. I think we’re in the middle of a curve with the whole album release date changing to Fridays, and people with shorter releases. The game kind of shifting, and I think everyone’s trying to shift with it. I’m trying not to get caught in the curve and f*cked up somewhere [laughs].

What are some of the major career goals you are still looking to accomplish?

Yo Gotti: I just want to see the artists that I signed become as big as me, or bigger. I want to continue to put out the dope music that I’m doing, and keep growing. I’m also getting involved with some film sh*t that we’re trying to do too. We’re actually shooting a couple of pieces. If it work out how I want it to work out, I want to release them with the Art of Hustle album. The script is already laid out, we’re just trying to get it done.

Who is someone you still are hoping to collaborate with?

Yo Gotti: Musically, I always said I wanted to work with Kanye. That’s one of the people that I’ve never worked with. I collaborate with people on different things, such as the movie front, I’ve been talking with 50 [Cent]. We’ve been talking about me doing some different things. I’m even talks about collaborating with different clothing brands. I’m a businessman, so I be moving.