Tonto: Man Down

March 28th, 2006 | By Administrator

The former Chamilitary capo exposes the Mixtape Messiah and reveals weaknesses in the Color Changin? Army?

Words by Greg ?Gate$? Davenport
Photos provided by Dessie ‘LD’ Brown Jr.

I know Cham from the hood, from way back. I?m talkin? like 7, 8 years ago. Before he was even the rapper you know as Chamillionaire.

What hood? What part of H-Town? Give me your background.

I?m from the North Side of Houston, but I?ve stayed in every hood in Houston. I met Cham ? See him and Paul (Wall) use to be real tight. I use to take Paul Wall to the gym. He wanted to be a linebacker. He wanted to go to college and shit. So I use to work Paul out at the gym. And Cham, my boy use to take a lot of pictures of Cham. Cham use to always say he wanted to be like ?Pac. He use to be a lil? young nigga with a red little bandana around his head. Thug Life type of shit. But they was like little school boys, church boys; because the way I met them was through my boy and my boy was a youth pastor. They was in church program type shit. They just wasn?t like no super, super serious ? no hood niggas like that. So they started doing they thing, fucking around with Swishahouse getting they little buzz going. I ended hooking up with Cham through my nigga Bobo. This the same nigga that hooked me up with them niggas like seven years ago. He brought me in the camp and that?s when we had started doing ?Mixtape Messiah.? That?s when I started actually being on the road with them ? you know, the camera man type shit, driving the car. Just really watching them niggas back. Make sure nobody just really knock them niggas in the head. At first, the little niggas was cool. The whole thing about them is like they young niggas so the shit that I?m into them niggas wasn?t even into at all. They was kind of slow on a certain tip. They majorly slow on some shit. For real, they like so into the Screw shit to where they mind, to me, I feel like they mind just ain?t really, really open to new shit. A lot of shit that impress them niggas might not even impress me. Before Tonto was even fucking with Chamillionaire I was on ESPN and Power Sports Network. They was interviewing me on the football tip. I?m a cold nigga coming out of school balling ? doing the football thang. I also fucked around one year with the NFL with Arizona. That was like a few months on the practice squad. That was like in 2000. When I first came in the crew them niggas ain?t even fuck with girls like that. Like after the show them niggas they wasn?t even trying to bring no girls back to the room. They was like, ?In this camp we don?t do it like that.? I?m like, ?What!? Ya?ll niggas ain?t fuckin? with no honeys? Ya?ll niggas ain?t gettin? tipsy? Ya?ll ain?t gettin? fucked up?? My whole thing was ? Nigga, you talkin? bout fuckin? on your rap songs. You talkin? bout drinkin? and gettin? fucked up, but the real life nigga is a totally different nigga. So I?m like maaaaaannnnn! Really, when I seen that I was like, ?Man these niggas like some little studio gangsta niggas.? I mean like in the hood them niggas maybe they got like 20 street hours in the street. And I do mean that, like maybe 20 hours in the street. They ain?t just never been up on no hustlin? shit or no shit like that. As a point, I believe one of them niggas use to work for like ? I believe Cham use to work for Babies ?R Us.

Yeah, that?s what Mike Jones said in one of his raps.

I mean a nigga like me, when I was them niggas age I was bustin? the block for real. I?m known as a block bleeder. I feel like to the crew I brought a bunch of real shit because I was like, ?Man fuck that, we finna fuck some hoes. I don?t give a fuck what Chamillionaire ? what anybody say!? Niggas like, ?Man, dude if you don?t do what that nigga say you gonna get kicked out.? I?m like, ?Nigga, I?mma be me. Fuck that, I?mma do me.? I?m like, ?This nigga ain?t paying me that much to just change my whole self.? You talking about selling out to the fullest. Nigga you better be getting paid some major bucks if you gonna sell out.

When we were talking earlier when we first connected, you were saying that you were brought in to bring some street credibility. You were supposed to be the nigga to vouch for what Cham was doing?

Yeah. Like everywhere we go niggas instantly grab hold of me because everywhere we go, most of the niggas that?s paying for shows, most of them be like street niggas. They might fire up a blunt or pull a blunt out and Cham might be like, ?Nah, nah, I don?t fuck with it.? He ain?t never tried weed ? that?s just how square he is. Coming from where I from, a nigga like that would be like a super-square nigga. A nigga be like, ?Man that nigga L7. How this nigga supposed to be the truth but he ain?t never toted up on a blunt or nothing.? You know how we (Gate$ and Tonto) met. We met in the St. Lou. We out there just kickin? it with niggas. It?s just like, ?You a Black man my nigga. You my brother. You a ghetto nigga. I?m a ghetto nigga. Ain?t no reason to beef, let?s just show love.? A lot of niggas Cham just don?t fuck with on that level because he don?t even fuck with niggas like that. He a in-the-closet type nigga ? to himself. He ain?t no street nigga. Like I say, most of the time niggas don?t even fuck with him just like that on that note. Put it like this, I got some of my niggas, when the ?Sound of Revenge? first came out these niggas came to me, some big time D-Boys in the hood, they was like, ?Man, Cham let me down.? I was like, ?What, he let you down?? They was like, ?Yeah, I thought he was going to come a little harder than that on the album.? I told them, ??He not no hood nigga. He might perpetrate to be a hood nigga, but this ain?t no hood nigga at all. This nigga like a super-L7 nigga.? What a lot of people don?t know is that Cham?s background is Nigerian. I don?t want to be indifferent to nobody ? It?s like to me a lot of Africans and Nigerians they think they better than the regular American nigga. They put themselves up on another pedestal. The way he pay a nigga like he don?t pay you for the shit you need, he pay you for you think you?re worth. A couple of times when the nigga paid me he was like, ?Man, I?m giving you this because I think this what you deserve.? I?m like, ??Damn!? I?m just thinking in my mind, ?Nigga, this what you think I deserve?! That?s kind of fucked up, because that means you could put a cap on my shit real easy.? That mean my shit could go from a thousand bucks to $200-$300. The nigga kept like doing it and then all of a sudden the nigga saying, ?Ain?t no money in the camp. Well, I ain?t making no money.? Nigga when you got signed you made your money your advance. Nigga you got an advance. Nigga you got at least $750 (thousand). Anytime you got over half a million bucks ? Come on man, who the fuck are we playing with here?

Awww man, majorly! This nigga wasn?t spreading the money right, point blank. I?m sitting up here nigga ? nigga I got eviction notices on my door. I got pink slips. Muthafuckas, talking bout they finna cut off my lights nigga. And I got four kids at the crib. I got four kids at the crib and I been on the road with this nigga since July 12. Out of 30 days of the month I might be with this nigga like maybe15 to 20 days. My nigga the whole time I?m grindin? with you. The whole thing (was) you called me nigga, I didn?t call you nigga. I wasn?t burnin? your phone up. For like a month, this was like in February or either like March, Cham had been calling me. I missed like three of this niggas calls on purpose. I really didn?t even want to fuck with him no more just because I was like, ?Man, that nigga sho be acting funny on the money.?

Was this before ?The Sound of Revenge? or after?

This was before ?The Sound of Revenge.? This was when we was fuckin? with the ?Mixtape Messiah? shit. I could understand him not paying big bucks (back then) because I already knew he didn?t have no major deal yet. A nigga was new in the camp. But now, the second time going around ? We went on a promo tour (and) I drove to at least 10 to 15 different states. Just me by myself, with the whole camp pretty much in the back. I drove and video recorded for this nigga. Out of that whole month do you know this nigga only gave me a thousand bucks when we came home? I know I drove well over 20,000 miles. The whole thing to me is me doing shit on the regular niggas get paid to do. Then like he wasn?t even trippin? because he was like, ?Well, mayne you the homey. I?m putting you down because you the homey.? My whole thing ? Nigga fuck the homey shit. Nigga keep it business. That?s why right now I?m pissed at this nigga because instead of the nigga just keeping it business ? Fuck homeboy shit nigga. I don?t give a fuck. Fuck all that. When he called me the first thing the nigga told me is, ?The money gonna be straight.? That nigga said, ?I got a budget. I?m getting the album rollin?. Everything is about to start clickin?. Bam!? He said, ?I think you can handle the camera the best. Come on my nigga, let?s get on this road and let?s go get it.? After that I?m like, ?Okay.? Shit, I?m gung-ho. I go as far back as to fuckin? with Lil? Flip when Lil? Flip was on his way up and I went on the road with none of them niggas. I was like, ?I ain?t finna leave my family for none of these niggas.? But this nigga here, he saying he?s an A-1 nigga and he gonna come on with it ? I said, ?Alright, you know what man, I?mma fuck with it because it?s a good avenue for a nigga. Plus, I get a chance to get a lot of different connects and shit too.? But his whole thing for me coming on the road with him was for Tonto to get no fame. Before he said, ?I?mma make you famous,? but all of a sudden ? I guess maybe too many muthafuckas was saying Tonto name or maybe Tonto was getting too much attention. He telling niggas behind a nigga back, ?Tonto acting like an artist.? He seeing niggas buying me drinks in the club and niggas treating me A-1. This nigga was really hatin? on that man. I just couldn?t understand that dog. Why would this nigga even trip on that? I?m like, ?Nigga,
you supposed to be Chamillionaire.

When did this all come to a head? When did this all blow up?

We had just shot ?Ridin? Dirty? in Dallas. I drive up to Dallas. Hook up with these niggas. I video record most of the behind the scenes shit. What?s so crazy nigga is this nigga don?t even want to give me money to buy film. I?m coming out my own pocket. A nigga scraping up crumbs fucking with this nigga. I?m like, ?Nigga, I ain?t got time to be taking money out of my pocket that for some reason you have a problem with giving me back.? Dog, we ain?t talking about nothing but twenty or forty bucks. We ain?t talking about no major money, but this nigga here ? I see him and Rasaq (and) they just got new mouthpieces. He got about $12,000 in his mouth. Rasaq got like seven G?s in his mouth. Then the nigga probably bought about fifteen, twenty-five G?s worth of new cars. Nigga, you spending money like that, but you broke? Nigga, you know I been riding with you, but my shit still ain?t fuckin? paid? Then nigga you telling me I need to go get a job! Come on dude, is you serious?!

He told you to get a job? When did he tell you this?

After we shot the video we did the show that night in Dallas. We did all that shit, all the while I still ain?t got no money. Matter of fact, I gotta give a shout out to D-Bo (A.K.A. ? Tiny Lister). Tiny showed me some major love at the video. Tiny brought me back in the camper. He wouldn?t let nobody else even come in the camper. He was just like, ?Man, I wish I would?ve been knew you.? You know this D-Bo! This D-Bo coming at me like, ?I wish I would?ve been knew you man. You?s a real nigga.? You know, just giving me props like that. So all the while, I don?t know whether this nigga Cham seeing this and hatin? or I mean just don?t want to see this shit go down, know what I mean? So, I call the nigga that Tuesday. So, I e-mail the nigga right ? I 2-way the nigga. I 2-way the nigga, I say, ?What?s up on some loot?? Nah, I told the nigga, ?What?s up?? Then he hit me back on the e-mail, he like, ?What you want?! I?m sick!? I?m like, ?Damn!? I don?t know about you, but I ain?t gonna hit my homeboy back like that. Not if you my homeboy. I ain?t finna talk nowhere crazy to my homeboys at all. That?s not the level niggas on if a nigga supposed to be calling a nigga his homeboy. So, I?m like, ?Dude, what?s the deal? My shit about to get cut off over here, what?s up on some loot?? So, he just hit me back like, ?Say man, you need to get a job and support your family and you need to find a legal hustle.? This nigga hit me back (with this)!

Wow!

Dog, I have wasted six months! I told ya since July 12. It is now about to be February. You might as well put that at seven months. I?ve done major shit for this nigga and all of a sudden the nigga hit me back like that? I was like, ?Whoa!? I?m like, ?Where all this shit come from all at once?? This how I hit him back ? Dude listen, I don?t give a fuck about no goddamn Chamillionaire, rollin? with no Chamillionaire, all that rap name, all that stardom shit don?t mean shit to me. I have never asked no muthafucka for they autograph. You won?t see me kissing no nigga ass, licking no nigga ass or in no nigga face. I?ll tell a nigga fuck you first. I hit the nigga right back on the e-mail and I was like, ?Say dog, well just pay me for the show I did that night. Pay me for the show and the footage I shot at the video.? He hit me back, ?I can?t even use none of that footage because you filmed up a girl ass one time!? I?m like, ?Nigga what?!? Man and I know this nigga is lying. Nigga, I got major footage with D-Bo doing all kinda shit. All he trying to do is keep the negative up there. That type of nigga never give you props for shit, but he can find all of the negative shit about you, right? I?m like, ?Cham, I don?t give a fuck what you talkin? bout. Dog, just pay me what the fuck you owe me for that and nigga you?ll never have to see me again.? I just instantly took myself away from Chamilitary. Then he hit me back and he was like, ?Tonto you need to get serious and leave the girls alone.? Then I hit him back and I say, ?Nigga, the girls ain?t never been my muthafuckin? problem.? I said, ?The worst thing I ever did ? I should?ve never fucked with you.? I said, ?Dog, Every time I ever picked up that camera nigga I should?ve made you pay me. For everything I ever did for you nigga I should?ve made you pay me. That way you would respect the shit.? Because when you don?t make a nigga pay for some shit and this nigga ain?t your trill homey like that or he ain?t ya homey from childhood, nah dog, make that nigga come out the pocket, because other than that niggas steady finding ways to make my shit look like bullshit. All the while I know it ain?t because Universal (Records) took a lot of footage I shot from ?Mixtape Messiah? and they used that. They pressed up like 10 or 20,000 of those just to give out to people at shows. So, I?m like, ?Nigga, come on! So, my footage was good enough then, but now, all of a sudden it ain?t good enough?? Like I say nigga, all the while nigga, all that footage nigga, is his. Nigga, I don?t got nothing in writing saying I?mma get no money out of this. Nigga, once you put the footage in stores you can get any type of money you want. But still I?m sitting here on the sideline, ain?t got a dime, ain?t got a Buffalo Nickel for that shit. Dog, trust me man, when you hear back from the nigga ? He?s the type of nigga he will never fuckin? admit he?s wrong. One of them ?No matter what I?m right? type of ass nigga that don?t want to be fuckin? wrong. Dog, I don?t have no respect for no nigga like that because first of all, ain?t no muthafucka perfect dude. You trying to tell me you don?t fuck up ain?t never fucked up? To me that shows a nigga with no backbone because I admit it, I said, ?My biggest fuck up was fuckin? with you.? I just admitted my fuck up right there and you can?t even admit a fuck up. He don?t got no backbone. I mean you hear a lot of shit he talk with Paul and them, but I see how Paul blew up and it just make you wonder. Paul always been a cool nigga so it make me wonder. I know how every now and then this nigga can act like a little bitch and have these little bitch fits. This nigga be having moods man. He be having moods like a fuckin? broad on her period. Nigga, how you a moody ass like ? You supposed to be a superstar dude. You don?t even know how to handle your superstardom nigga. You handling it like an immature adolescent or some shit like that.

Well, can you shed some light on the Paul/Cham situation? Everybody is speculating.

Let?s put two and two together. Fuck the bullshit. Let?s do some fucking adding and subtracting and some muthafuckin? multiplication. If you peep game, right before Paul left Paul was doing a lot of shit on his own. It?s a lot of ideas Paul had, but Cham would never co-sign them. Paul, he the type of nigga man ? Don?t get it wrong, don?t get it twisted, he a White boy, so when you a White boy hanging around a bunch of niggas you always got to try to do something different or do something to like stay hip with these niggas. And the way that shit end up going down ? All of a sudden Paul just leave. Paul leave and go major. I ain?t trippin?, but Paul leave and go make a much bigger name for himself then Cham did. I mean Cham shit moving, but if you look around and see the niggas Paul fucking with, nigga you might look up and see Paul on MTV with P. Diddy. You might look up and see that nigga with Nelly. He moving around fucking with niggas, so Paul can?t be all that bad of a nigga, since (Chamillionaire) say he is. Although, it?s a lot of hearsay shit. The whole thing about it is (Chamilionaire) love to argue. I ain?t never seen a nigga love to argue more than this nigga love to argue. The only muthafucka I seen love to argue like this is a woman, is a broad. Other than that, I ain?t never seen a muthafucka love to argue like that. And then the nigga call me back Thursday. Tuesday I said I didn?t even want to fuck with him. I said, ?Dog, you don?t have to see me again.? Dog, when I said, ?You don?t have to see me again,? I meant that. When I said, ?The worst thing I could?ve did is ever fuck with you,? I meant that. That mean I was through with you. Now, the nigga call me back Thursday and he was like, ?So nigga, so what you a real nigga? So, you a real nigga? How come you couldn?t tell me to my face? Blah, blah, blah, whoopty, whoop. I wasn?t coming clean with you on the loot?? I?m like, ?Cham I?m through talking dog. I?m like ?Nigga, what the fuck more can I say? I don?t want to argue with you on this phone.? Really he ain?t call me to even hear what I had to say he called me just to argue. For like 30 minutes this nigga on the phone with me straight arguing. I mean straight fuckin? bickering like a fuckin? broad.

Over a couple of thousand dollars?

Nigga, over a couple of dollars. Dog, drop me off a G. Nigga, a G could?ve took care of my little bills. Man, this a true story, this nigga wind up giving me 500 bucks ? Some bullshit! I just say fuck it nigga! Right now, I don?t give a fuck what you giving me. Anything you giving me, I?m through with you unless he come with some paperwork in writing and some muthafuckin? money up front. All the while, he just ain?t wrapped to tight when it come to fuckin? with real niggas. He like ?Yeah Boys.? He like niggas that?s gonna kiss his ass and say yes to him, but that ain?t me dude. If I feel like you fuckin? up then nigga you fuckin? up. You need to take some real criticism like a real nigga and don?t be no little broad about it the shit. That was pretty much it.

What is the situation now? Will you not mess with the people in Chamilitary? Do you have any problems with any of the people in Chamillitary?

Nah, nah. Chamilitary, man all them my niggas. One of the realest niggas up in there Rasaq. I got much love for that nigga. He like caught in between a Catch 22 because that?s Cham?s brother, but I mean Cham always wreaking on that nigga hard too. It?s like one of them things (where) you don?t want to piss (Chamillionaire) off. Rasaq fee like if you say the wrong thing to him and piss him off Cham might not put him on. That type of shit (where) niggas walking around on pins and needles. I mean man what type of fuckin? rap crew is this? This nigga ain?t no fuckin? Suge (Knight) in this muthafucka. He ain?t whoopin? no ass in this bitch. I feel like the only reason Cham called me back so he could say he kicked me off of Chamilitary.

I got a question then. If you had a bad experience the first time on ?Mixtape Messiah? and you know these dudes are not really street dudes, then why would you even lend your street credibility to that situation?

The biggest thing with Tonto is Tonto a loyal nigga dude. Nigga, right now I?ll give you the shirt off my back nigga. I wouldn?t even have to know you. I wouldn?t give a fuck who you was. Whatever I have, I?ll give to you. At the time (Chamillionaire) called me, just on the real shit, I had my hustle game up pretty strong. It was like a choice to leave that and reach out for an avenue that was a little bigger.

So, you looked at it as a way out of the street?

Yeah, yeah! When I looked at Cham, I was like, ?Okay, this nigga with Universal ?? I was just looking at shit for myself. I wasn?t even worried about what the fuck he was telling me. I already had my own plan already. I said, ?I?m a real nigga, so where every I go these muthafuckas gonna see me.? I said, ?Fuck it. If I?m a make a move on the world, this it right here. Nigga, I can do some modeling shit. I can do fuckin? whatever.? Plus, like I say, he had the shit going. The whole thing is like a lot of niggas don?t know how to (piggyback) off of other niggas. Look at 50 (Cent) and look at Lloyd (Banks). Lloyd my nigga, but Lloyd ain?t no super, super hella rapper, but Lloyd 50 nigga though. He was like, ?Fuck it. Whatever Lloyd was doing he put all them niggas on.? He like, ?Nigga, I ain?t have to give ya?ll niggas no money. Nigga, I?mma let ya?ll niggas be seen with me in everything I do so people see ya?ll too.? Nigga, Lloyd two times platinum. Shit, Buck got him a platinum (plaque). So, then them niggas got loot. Then they don?t have to be in 50 face trying to bum money from him and all that because he put them on. But, this is just something that Cham just wasn?t doing. Matter of fact, nigga I ain?t in now video. I ain?t trippin?, but ? If you look at Tonto look. You look at this gangsta look, just like California-type style, it?s way harder than a lot of these niggas (Chamillionaire) done had in these videos. Dog, and these niggas ain?t did shit for you nigga. I done major shit for you nigga. I don?t give a fuck, (Chamillionaire) could?ve done anything to chunk me up in there be he wasn?t trying to put it down like that for some reason. I just feel like the nigga was scared for me to get seen or something. I just couldn?t understand that ? everybody know me out here in Houston. Fuck the bullshit nigga, everybody know me. We can damn near go to any side of town, damn near any hood and most of these niggas know me. These niggas know me for not being no fraud-ass nigga and for being the same nigga I been. Cham, he like the type of nigga in high school ? this nigga wasn?t no star. He was like a regular little peon. Niggas probably use to put ?kick me? signs on his back. He wasn?t no star on the basketball team, (he was) like a bench rider type nigga. So he wasn?t never no star, so when they get that stardom really don?t know how to handle that stardom.

You?re no longer Chamilitary so what?s your plans for the future?

I ain?t gonna lie, what?s pretty much next is take over the world. Pretty much get in where I fit in. I sent you ?Pop The Trunk,? so if I?mma see if I can go on make America go on and make the trunk pop. I got a bunch of shit coming out. I got a couple of little diss songs you?ll be hearing in the next week or so. I got a million albums coming out. I got some mean tracks. I got a hot-ass producer, my kinfolk Tiger. He produced tracks on the first Screw that was ever made. Right now, South Park Mexican got a hit song (produced by Tiger) on the radio right now (called) ?Get On My Hood? and the track is 7-years-old.

If I could ask Cham one question, what would you want me to ask him?

That?s a good fuckin? question. Hmmm, that?s a real good fuckin? question. Fuck it, I would ask this nigga this: Why would you ever even ask Tonto to come with you if you knew you couldn?t take care of this nigga? Dog, you don?t think Cham knew I had four kids when he called me and asked me to come on the road with him? Any nigga with any kind of sense dude if you really, really got a heart for me you know what (Cham) should?ve did dog?

What?

When you knew you was gonna need niggas on the road with you, right then, you should?ve had a budget for yourself. ?Okay, I?mma take this budget out for my niggas. Okay, I?mma get Tonto to go on the road with us. This nigga. That nigga. Ron C. Rasaq. They gonna be on the road with me so I?m gonna take out a budget with them. If Universal don?t pay up on time, no matter what, we still gonna be good.? Last time I was with them niggas, nigga I set up in the room in Dallas and didn?t have a dime nigga. I ain?t have money to even buy me a soda. I couldn?t even buy a meal. Now that?s crazy to me dude. I?m 31-years-old man. I?m supposed to asking a nigga for some money dog? My whole thing is I worked for that money nigga. Come up off it. You ain?t giving me shit, know what I?m sayin?? I got hours of footage. Hours of a lot of shit. Nigga that?s mine.

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Tonto The Middle Men – Make The Trunk Pop

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