Alfamega is a complex dude. After spending a good deal of his life behind bars, Grand Hustle’s latest hustler is ready to tell the world his story with his debut, I Am Alfamega, due out Oct. 7. Led by the singles, the Nitti-prodcued “Uh Huh” and “4 or 5 Ways,” Mega’s run is really just beginning. –j.h.

Talk about your project.
You know Nitti did my first single. I got Lil C who produced “Shoulder Lean.” I got alot of producers that a lot of people never heard of. I was supposed to be going in with Jim Jonsin.

What message were you trying to get across with I am Alfamega?
There’s not really an audience I’m trying to reach. I’m just making music that everybody can relate to. I’m bringing storytelling back to the music. You got a lot of dudes now who make music but its missing storytelling, that’s a lane that nobody has filled.

Why do you think that’s fallen off in recent years?
A lot of dudes don’t’ have stories to tell. And if they do have a story, they don’t want to tell it. Then they have stuff to hide. It ain’t no hating, but a lot of people have insecurities. Me, I don’t have no insecurities, it is what it is with me.

What is your story?
My story is I’ve been through it. I’ve been to prison. I’ve been all over the United States in state prisons, juveniles, trade schools. I was a real knucklehead, let’s put it like that.

I think a lot of rappers sometimes talk about their prison experiences…
A lot of rappers talk about their prison experiences? A lot of rappers have never really been to prison. A lot of rappers have been to county jail. Just because you’ve been to prison it don’t make you no hell of a dude. That was just a part of your life that you went through, trials and tribulations. It adds more to your book of life and your testimony.

I was going to say, when you spend a lot of time in prison, you become institutionalized and people don’t understand how difficult it can be to make the transition back into regular society.
You think it is?

To become institutionalized?
I’m not institutionalized. Maino wasn’t institutionalized. Maino did 10. Most of my life, like the last bid I did I did seven years, four days, five hours, 32 minutes and 16 seconds. But put it all together and I did 14 years out of my life and I never was institutionalized. It’s the individual that gives up. When I was in prison, I wrote 1,700 songs, three screenplays and a book, so I couldn’t have been institutionalized. I could’ve had my first deal two weeks out of prison. Does that sound like I was institutionalized?

No, it doesn’t sound like you were.
That’s what I’m saying [laughs]. You do have a lot of individuals that become institutionalized because they don’t know who they are. If you spend your time trying to get to know people instead of getting to know yourself, you can become institutionalized.

Did any of the 1,700 songs you wrote in prison show up on this project?
Yes, “4 or 5 Ways” that’s a song someone at Capitol Records leaked out by mistake, so they say. But DJs up north took to it so hard, like are you sure he’s from Atlanta? So I had to shoot a video for it, I shot two videos—one for my first single, “Uh Huh” and the other for “4 or 5 Ways.” And I got a song called “Imagine” and it started out as a letter when I was in prison, I was in the hole and I was listening to all the stuff… like when you’re in solitary confinement, there’s a lot going on in there. Like you hear dudes screaming, kicking on the door all day. You gotta understand you’re in a cell for 23 hours a day and they let you out one hour. But me, sometimes I chose to be in there 24 hours a day, I didn’t want to go in no cage and look like one of the pets at the dog pound. So, I sat back and I listened to what was going on and I thought about the stuff that I was going through so I wrote the song “Imagine” as a letter which I was gonna write home to tell people, man, you gotta imagine what I’m going through. So you could understand why I was so angry. It was like, you gotta imagine what I’m going through all day, everyday. It ain’t no, I can be your friend in here. You don’t really have friends in there, unless you find somebody with the same mindset and you’re not gonna too tough find that in prison.

How did you get your deal?
My first deal I could have with Beanie Sigel, Roc-a-fella State Property II but I didn’t take it.

Why?
Because I’m a boss. And I like Beans, but Beans had a roster. He had a whole State Property roster and by me just coming home, I was gonna have to wait in line. My drive was so strong, I couldn’t wait in line. I started in the studio just recording songs, I did an independent deal with Versatile Records, me and my man Omar, we started up Versatile Records together. He had the money and I had the skills. Six months later I had a deal with Universal Records so that lets you know my drive was right there. A lot of people were like, it’s going to be totally impossible to come out here and just get a deal. I was like, yeah for you it is, not me. I went and got my deal with Universal and David Banner helped me secure that deal. I met David first song we did, locked me in. I lost the deal with Universal and I came back home to Atlanta because I was going back to Atlanta and Philadelphia. I let Tip know because he was on my first album with Universal. I was on the only dude when Tip was beefing with Lil Flip, I was the only dude that had them on a record together. So I told Tip I was a free agent now and it was a handshake, welcome to Grand Hustle. It’s just been going from there. A lot of people would be seeing other people like [Big] Kuntry more than me, but I was on the grind. I was in these small cities by myself, building my own foundation. You can’t live under the shadow of Tip, because Tip already there. If I go in a room with Tip, people gonna interview him before they interview me. But if I show up in a spot where there’s nobody there but me, I’ll get the attention that I deserve.

When you signed with Grand Hustle was that immediately your strategy because some of the artists that have been there still haven’t released projects.
That was my going in because I had my own money. So we had the paper, the thing was I had to go through the struggle though. I had to get in my own lane.

You talk about being a storyteller. Why is that important?
It would be easy to make surface music, or dumb music. It’s called dumb music because it’s easy to do. It’s hard to put all of your emotions out to the people and take criticism. I feel like a lot of dudes wasn’t doing that. Tupac used to do it. Eminem did it. If you do that, you’ll win. If you realize it or not, there’s more people out there that can relate to your story. I’ve been getting a lot of good feedback from the fans, like man, keep that coming. We need that.

Are you prepared for the criticism that comes with being comes being honest?
I’m prepared for whatever. I’ve been through the worst. So what a person says or thinks, I don’t care because I know in my heart what it is.

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