Jay Midnyte

In the past couple of years, you’ve won over lots of fans and critics. Your popularity has skyrocketed. What’s your mind-set right now with Tha Carter III coming out?
My mind-set is always the same. I’m never there. That’s the mind-set I stay with: You’re never there, until you’re there.

Where is there? Do you mean the top?
Who knows? Maybe the top isn’t where I need to be. But I just know one day I will be there. Wherever there should be. That’s what my mind frame is every day: working on getting there. You’re never there.

Tha Carter III is probably your most anticipated album. Do you sense that you have a different type of popularity now?
The difference is more… And people expect more. I want this shit to be the best. It ain’t even about being great. They want me to be better than something they can compare it to—whatever they compare it to. Whatever’s best, they want me to be that. That’s a great feeling, ’cause I know I gotta meet that quota every time. And it makes me try to be on my shit.

That pressure, does it—
Not at all, sweetheart. My mama taught me things backwards when I was small. Love was hate. Opposite. When you grow up, you find out what’s real, but you already used to the words… Trust me, I’m human, baby. I don’t want nobody looking like, “That nigga’s lying.” It’s pressure, but I’m different. Pressure to me may be a turn-on. I need that motivation. Pressure to somebody else is pressure.

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