HILTON: So you’re branching out into different genres of music. Are you trying to integrate your audiences more?
WAYNE: Exactly. That’s exactly what it is, because when you go to my shows, there are a variety of people out there in the audience at my shows, and I like to please everybody.
HILTON: Who do you make music for?
WAYNE: I make it for my fans, honestly. I make it for my fans.
HILTON: One thing I’ve noticed is that a lot of rappers, if you say to them, “Why are your lyrics about money, sex, and violence?” they’ll say, “Well, we’re telling it like it is. We’re being realistic.” But if you want to do something different and fresh, how do you do that?
WAYNE: You have to be an overall different type of person. Music is a reflection of who you are, and if those things that you mentioned are what your music is all about, then I guess that’s who you are. I mean, I think it’s just that simple. You have to be someone who is able to speak about different things. I speak about what I speak about, and I guess that’s because I’m a crazy-ass nigga. [Hilton laughs] Kanye [West] speaks about a lot of different things, but that’s because of who he is. You have Jay-Z, and he speaks about more corporate things, and I’m quite sure he’s a pretty corporate guy. But I guess it’s all who you are.
EHRLICH: Who do you like to listen to?
WAYNE: Honestly, I don’t listen to nobody else’s music but my own. It’s kind of like sports to me. You don’t see Kobe Bryant at a LeBron James game-he just works on his own game. And that’s what I do. I only listen to me, so I can criticize and analyze and all those things.
HILTON: While you were in prison you released another album, called I Am Not A Human Being. What does that title mean?
WAYNE: It’s just saying that I’m not the same as other people. I don’t think the same. I don’t do the same things. I just feel out of this world sometimes.
EHRLICH: I was reading that during your last month in prison, they put you in solitary confinement for having an iPod or something like that. I’ve heard that being in solitary is the most torturous thing in the world. What was that like for you?
WAYNE: For me it was okay, because it just meant that I was alone with my thoughts. There were times when it was pretty tough to be by yourself, and to have no television, no sort of nothing. That was kind of tough. But I didn’t have to be in there long. It was just a month. I was okay. I did fine.
EHRLICH: So literally a month without talking to any human beings except the guards. You’re totally isolated?
WAYNE: Nah. There were guys next to me and things like that. You could speak through the walls and stuff. It wasn’t totally silent like you would think it is.
EHRLICH: Can you still work out when you’re in solitary? Do you get time in the yard?
WAYNE: Yeah, yeah. I got an hour in the yard every day, so I was able to do all those things.
HILTON: I had to do 24 nights in solitary. [Hilton was held in a separate cell as a safety precaution.]
WAYNE: Oh, so you know how it is.
HILTON: Yeah, I know how it is.
EHRLICH: Wayne, did anybody try to fight with you at all in prison? Or did everyone just kind of respect you?
WAYNE: You know, we are men and we argue about things. That’s the aggression in us. So, yeah, I got into arguments. But there wasn’t ever anything too bad.
HILTON: How happy are you to have your freedom now?
WAYNE: Words cannot explain.
HILTON: Yeah, I know how you feel. [laughs] It’s the best feeling in the world when you come out.
EHRLICH: Does it make you feel almost like you appreciate every little thing in a different way now-like you have a new lease on life?
WAYNE: Exactly. You’re definitely more in tune to what you’re doing. You’re definitely more humble. I think that most people who come out of that situation just want to make the most of life afterwards. Honestly it was just one big humbling experience.
HILTON: I agree. So you’ve been all around the world. What is your favorite place in the world to go?
WAYNE: I’ve been to the Dominican Republic a few times and I like that. But Amsterdam would be my favorite place.
HILTON: I love Amsterdam! It’s so dope there. You can just ride a bike around. Do you ever dream? What are your dreams about?
WAYNE: I don’t dream a lot. But whenever I dream, I just dream about the day I just had or something like that. Mostly that’s what I dream about. I dream about that current day. Other than that, I don’t dream a lot.
EHRLICH: Do you think that your ambitions have changed at all now because you’ve achieved so much? Or do you still feel hungry in the same way that you did when you were a kid?
WAYNE: Honestly, it makes me want more because I’m nowhere near satisfied and I’m always hungry for more. I’m a very creative person, and the best part about creation is creating. So I always love to come up with new things, new ideas, new thoughts. I cherish things like that. So I’m always wanting more.
HILTON: What sign are you, Wayne?
WAYNE: I’m a Libra.
HILTON: Do you believe in horoscopes?
WAYNE: I’ve read horoscopes before and what they say about Libras. But I would actually love to not be what somebody writes down-I don’t want to be described. I don’t want you to be able to read something and say, “This is how Wayne is.” I’d rather you meet me and decide. I’d rather be different, basically. So, yes, I’ve read the horoscopes, and I see what they say. But I’d rather be something else.
HILTON: Do you have any pets?
WAYNE: I like animals, but I only have a few pets. I have a bunch of fish, and I have two sharks. Those are my dudes.
HILTON: Wow. Sharks? Nice.
EHRLICH: How big are the sharks?
WAYNE: One is a little baby, so he’s about a foot or two, or something like that. Then the other one is a good two, two and a half feet, or almost three feet.
EHRLICH: So do you have a huge pool for them? Or do they stay in a tank?
WAYNE: They live in a crib. I have this little water thing. It’s like a little pond under the stairwell in my house. So they swim under there.
HILTON: That’s dope . . . Do you go on Twitter?
WAYNE: I just shut my Twitter account down because it got hacked. Once it got hacked I had Twitter fix it. They changed it. And then it got hacked again so I just shut it down. As of right now, I’m on Twitter strike.
EHRLICH: Here’s a question for both of you: Do either of you have any goals that you’d like to accomplish in the near future? What would you like to have done by the end of this year?
WAYNE: Ladies first.
HILTON: Me? I’d really love to finish my album, because I’ve been working on it for so long, but I’ve had so many other projects that it’s hard to focus on one thing. I’d also love to just continue doing my businesses, and be more confrontational with people, because I let a lot of people get away with stuff because I don’t say anything. So, personally, I wish that I would be stronger with people.
EHRLICH: Wayne, what about you?
WAYNE: I want to bank a cool $50 million at least. At the end of this year, I want to be able to say that I banked $50 million. Not generated $50 million, but actually banked $50 million.
EHRLICH: After taxes you mean?
WAYNE: [laughs] Exactly.
HILTON: That’s a good goal to have.
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