On Tuesday (Sept. 5), Juicy J‘s “Chronicles of the Juice Man: A Memoir” landed in brick-and-mortar bookstores and online shops everywhere. Co-written with journalist Soren Baker, the published work centers around the hip hop legend’s beginnings in Memphis and rise to fame in the music industry, which was full of obstacles, setbacks, and lessons learned.
During the day’s promotional run, Juicy J jumped on a video call with Allison Kugel to speak on a variety of topics, including past issues with Black Hollywood’s elite following his Academy Award win for Best Original Song. Alongside longtime Three 6 Mafia producer DJ Paul and then-Hypnotize Minds artist Frayser Boy, he scored his groundbreaking Oscar for “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp,” a standout from the 2005 film Hustle & Flow.
“I’ve been to California a little bit, but I’ve never been around actors like that. I was asking [late director] John Singleton, ‘Man, these people hating on us like crazy,'” he explained. “[Singleton] said, ‘Don’t worry about it, man. They just mad ’cause they ain’t got one.”
He recalled when he and his group attended Vanity Fair‘s after-party following the Academy Awards ceremony, where Juicy said he saw “a lot of Black actors and actresses mean mugging” while he received congrats from the likes of Steven Spielberg and John Travolta. He also mentioned a short exchange with Will Smith, a moment that he felt was less than genuine. “He was like, ‘I’m just mad ’cause y’all got one before me!’ It could’ve been a joke… I didn’t take it like that.”
Later in the interview, he was asked about his relationship with Mac Miller, who tragically passed away in 2018 at the age of 26. “You know, we was in the studio and he had a party pack… it was every kind of drug you could take,” he explained. “If I could go back through the hands of time, I would’ve snatched that box. And I know he prolly would’ve tried to fight me… I would’ve took that box, and dumped it in the toilet and flushed it. I knew Mac Miller when he was 17. I threw his 18th birthday party at my studio. He was like a little brother to me.”
Watch Juicy J‘s full clip with Kugel below.