Each of you give an introduction of yourself for those who arent familiar with you.

Pieco: My names Pieco. I was born in Wichita Falls, Texas. Raised in Houston, lived in Homestead off Tidwell, 290. Moved back to 3^rd Ward, lived in Oklahoma City for two years.

Bird: My names Bird, I was born in New Orleans, came to Texas when I was about three and I stayed in the country. Now Im in the city.

Young Kountry: My names Kountry. I was born and raised in a small town in East Texas, in Crockett. Wasnt nothing popping there so I came to Houston to make it happen.

When and how did you each get into rapping?

P: As I was young and I was growing up, music really influenced me, and I just felt to turn all my feelings toward music. I was getting locked up so much so I started writing. I wanted to find something to keep myself busy, to keep my mind working, so I started writing at the age of nine years old. Just kept writing and kept writing and kept rapping. I had a passion for it.

B: Im that person you just know that they got that talent, man. Ive been rapping ever since I could talk man, since I was little. Thats all I ever did, thats all I ever liked, and thats all Im going to do.

YK: On the real, I aint start rapping until right when I got out of high school. We had a party and they had a little freestyle contest and I wasnt no good. So I decided, Shit, yall say I aint no good, Im fin to wreck everybody. So here I am.

Coming up, what would you say were your biggest influences musically?

P: My biggest influence wasI listened to some Rakim, I listened to some Pac, some Biggie, Fat Pat, rest in peace. H.A.W.K., Big Mello, [Big] Steve, you know, the whole Screwed Up Click movement. I grew up off of [DJ Screws] gray tapes. So thats really all my influences right there.

B: Man, in the country we aint had too much, we aint have no gray tapes. But when I really just wanted to rap was when I heard Pac. It was all over then

YK: Id say probably Biggie and Scarface. They were my first real people that I really followed and supported. Ive been jamming Scarface since the Geto Boys and Mr. Scarface Is Back. In my older years I kind of rally behind Z-Ro and Chamillionaire a little bit. They do their thing so I feel them boys.

When you first got started rapping, were you always planning on pursuing it as something like a career, something big, or was it just something to do for fun to kill time?

P: Basically like I said it was just to keep me constructive. I was on the path of self-desturction, honestly, to tell you the truth. I was young and my life was going nowhere. And I was just in and out of jail, in and out of jail, in and out of jail, in and out of jail. And Im just blessed that rap, that music has taken me to somewhere more positive.

B: For me it just started out as just having fun. But when I figured out everybody was liking it and liked how it sounded and I could do so much with one thing, I just said hey man, I might as well pursue that.

YK: Square business, music is in me. I dont know how to do anything else, thats what I do. Aint no other way to put it. Thats my life.

What at this time are your current goals?

P: My current goals are just to keep writing, keep myself focused, keep myself on a steady pace, keep my head on my shoulders. Just keep writing, keep writing to beats, keep making music, keep making jamming music. As for business aspects, keep everything good. Just have everything run smooth.

B: My current goal right now is to put Neo Click on the map. We fin to do it big and thats what my current goal is right now.

YK: Square business, loyalty runs deep in me. So my goal is, with Mike now, to go platinum. It aint no turning back now. Platinum is expected eventually at some point in time. And its expected to be with Beltway 8 because I expect to be here for life.

Did any of you know each other before joining Beltway 8?

P: I just recently met them.

B: Ive been knowing Kountry forever.

YK: Yeah, weve been down for a minute.

How did you two know each other?

YK: Weve been rapping together for years, man.

So you just knew each other through Houston?

YK: We come from the same area [East Texas]. Weve been rapping together since forever man, weve been together for about six years.

Tell me how each of you met Mike Moe [head of Beltway 8].

P: Well, I met Mike Moe at a freestyle contest, actually. It all started with Billy Cook, he was having a freestyle contest. He passed me a flyer, he bought my album. I went to the freestyle thing. I battled a group, I won the contest. I went through numerous amounts of people and I won the contest. Mike Moe seen me, he came up to me, gave me his card. He said, Call me, we can do some business. He bought my little album. It wasnt really much, but he supported me, and Im thankful for that. And ever since then I took flight with Beltway 8 and been with them ever since.

B: I met Mike when I was about 14 years old. It was one summer, I was out of school in the country and my partners and them stayed up here [in Houston]. And they were having a little open mic thing at Dope House [Records], and Mike just happened to be there and he heard me. And since that day Ive been with Mike. That was when I was 14, Im 21 now. I got back on it. He wanted me to go to school so I went back to school. 21, now Im back with Beltway 8, baby.

YK: On the cool, I met Mike on the internet. I was trying to buy some CDs and I asked him about getting some CDs with my boy on them. We came down here and called him and it took off from there. I aint know him until that day.

Were you all fans of the original Beltway 8?

P: I grew up on Beltway 8 albums. I recall myself when I was real young buying Something To Lean To Pt. 1, just listening to it in the car. I grew up on Beltway 8 albums.

B: If you know anything about me, I was on the Screwologist. Thats when I was 14, so Ive been Beltway 8. I grew up in the same place with Bubba Luv, a former Beltway 8 member. Ive been jamming Beltway 8, man.

YK: I went to school with Bubba, we were partners back in the day. I pretty much had everything that Beltway 8 put out at one point in time. From the time Bubba and them joined up, whatever they did I had everything that he would come through with.

People consider the original Beltway 8 group with J.B., A.Y., Bubba Luv, Moe B., and all them, a lot of people consider them a legendary group in Texas. Do you feel that you have a chip on your shoulder by becoming Beltway 8? Do you feel you have something to prove or live up to?

P: Honestly, yeah. Im a very competitive person. I dont brag or boast, Im just very competitive, its in me. When I first got with the group, thats what my goal was, just to prove to Mike Moe I am somebody, I can do this, Im made for this, Im built for this. So yeah, I have really high expectations for myself as far as music wise.

B: I feel like my boy Pieco, man. You cant take no man, put him in the game, and not expect him to compete. My thing is, if they think theyre legendary, its my objective to get at that same level. Im going to be at that same level or above.

YK: On the cool, I aint got no chip on my shoulder. I dont got no monkey on my back, nothing to think I need to catch them. Because honestly, them my boys, Bubbas my dude, Bubbas hot, and they did their thing, but its 2007. Im trying to do something brand new. And my sound and the album that me and Bird are working on aint nothing like what they used to do. This sound is something thats fixing to tear your ears off.

What is it that is going to set you guys apart from all the other numerous cliques in Houston and just in Texas in general?

P: Were a hungry group. Beltway 8 already has background. Were fresh artists and basically were trying to eat. All the competition weve got out here, were trying to be jamming, if not, you know, the best. Because weve got really high standards. Were working on it.

B: The way I see that we stand out, man, honestly, everything weve been putting down recently, all the feedback has been telling me they aint heard nothing like it. Thats how we stand apart. It aint nothing like us right now, its just us.

YK: Honestly, we sound different than everybody else. We dont have a real Houston sound, but we aint got no nothing sound. We have our own, its distinct. You aint never heard nothing like that before. When Mike Moe is behind us, Mike Moe is the man. If you dont know your history, you better check it. Mike Moe is a hustler. Mike Moe is the king of the streets. If we werent set apart then we are now, because hes going to put it there.

What type of style do each of you bring to the clique?

P: Really, Im universal, I dont have a certain type of style. I rap fast, real fast, I rap slow. Im just universal, thats me.

B: Im versatile myself. But me personally, I ride the beat, man. What you hear in the beat, thats what youre going to hear on my verse. Im a beat rider, thats me.

YK: I really aint sure about what my style is. Im real complex with it most of the time. I usually dont speed up my rap too much, generally dont go too slow. I stay somewhere in the middle. And its usually real witty. Its going to be funny or its going to be gangster, its going to be one or the other, and its going to grab you. At one point in time in each of my verses, you will never hear my verse where you aint going to say, Aww, boy, its over, I promise you that.

On a local level, what artists or producers would each of you like to work with?

P: Billy Cook. Really anybody I can work with. Im not really picky about working with anybody.

As long as its someone whos down to make music?

P: Yeah, Im willing to work with them.

B: Im just going to have to say [Z-]Ro. I got to put something down him in the future, its got to happen. He gutter, Im gutter, we need to make something gutter happen man.

YK: Production wise, were working with the one we want to be with. As in beats and everything else, shouts to Lil Kano, he do what he do.

Yeah, I heard he was doing a bunch of the new album.

YK: Lil Kano is hot. If yall dont know, you need to check it out. He is hot. Artist wise, in Houston, itd be a dream to be on a track with [Scar]Face. Face is God to me. Bun [B], Chamillionaire, Ro. Scarface, itd be a dream come true man. I dont even know how Id react.

What about on a national level?

P: Id say most likely The Game. The Game, Ludacris, just anybody I can work with.

What is it that draws you to The Game and Ludacris?

P: I like The Games style. Ive been checking out his album, I like his style, the way he spits, his creativity. Hes from the West coast but hes got an East coast style. I kind of feel that East coast type because thats how I freestyle sometimes. The Game most of all and Young Jeezy too. Street, real street.

B: Nationally, I want to put something down with Mary J. [Blige]. I sing too and shes got that voice, and she ghetto with it, she hood with it at the same time, and shell bring that out in my verse.

YK: Theres two people. The Game. And it aint about what he say, but when I hear him, he has a different kind of passion in his voice. You can hear it when hes saying his shit. And, shit, Eminem, man. Itll probably never happen, but Eminem. Because if you get on there, ooooooh, thats all I can say man.

What do yall think of the current hip-hop is dead thing thats going around?

P: They cant say hip-hop is dead. Its not true. I guess they think that people in the South are not really lyrical with it or just because people in the South are going platinum all the time. People from the East coast, they drop an album, they barely go gold. But, you know, youve got lyrical people in the South. Its just not simple stuff. Youve got lyrical stuff too.

Someone like K-Rino?

P: Exactly. K-Rino will spit some real stuff, put a story together, spit about what somebodys been through. Weve got lyrical people in the South. And all in all you cant really just say hip-hop is dead, I really dont go for that.

B: I wouldnt say hip-hop dead either. Hip-hop aint dead. If anything itll be confused, man. They got it twisted, man. It aint dead, its still here. They just got it confused, man. People dont know what they want to hear. And you cant charge that to the people, youve got to charge that to hip-hop. Its confused.

YK: Honestly, I think thats a bunch of bull. Check the Soundscan, man. What music sells more than hip-hop? Country music, theyre successful if they go gold, they done did their thing. Come on man, get back. Platinum status is what you reach for in the music game, and hip-hop is the one that does it day in and day out. If you think hip-hop is dead, shit, we know CPR.

What does this new group have lined up for 2007? Can we expect undergrounds, mixtapes?

P: Expect some mixtapes coming out. Weve got the Vol. 6 that just came out, Live From The Streets. Weve got the recent ones that just came out, Vol. 5. 1-6, got Vol. 7 coming out. Weve got a Slabz R Us Part 2 coming out. For current and future projects, Neo Click album is supposed to be due, were working on that still. Were working on the Neo Click album, getting things together, getting everything organized and straightened out. Thats about it.

Mike Moe jumps in: Hold on, back up Daniel. Pieco aint plug enough. Weve got the Crawlin 2 & From The Texas Relays CD coming out. Weve got The Adventures Of The Neo Click coming out once a month. Weve got the underground before the underground before the album. Basically what were fixing to do, were fixing to do a shock and awe campaign. Were just fixing to bomb nothing but Neo Click stuff for the next four or five months until the album drops in September.

What do yall want people to know about you and about the group?

P: I feel good working with the group. Im real comfortable around them. Just know that were coming out hard, were coming out fresh, were coming out jamming. So be expecting a lot from us.

B: Man, the group is on fire, man. The group is on fire and we cant get put out, man. Youre fixing to hear us. You get tired of us, oh well, youre fixing to hear us some more man. Were fixing to come out, were fixing to do it big, man. Its Neo Click, baby.

YK: Its like my boy said, were on fire and were fixing to do it. And it aint no stopping. If youre in the way then youre probably going to get ran over, thats just what it is. I aint taking no shorts. And if you think Im a gimmick, listen to my 16 and tell me again.

Is there any other things you want to say to the people?

P: Really, just keep your ear open for us. Keep your ear open, keep your eyes open. Because its going down. 2007, Beltway 8, Pieco, Bird, Young Kountry, Mike Moe.

B: Neo Click, baby. Its fixing to happen man.