PLIES TALKS ABOUT HIS NEW ALBUM *GOON AFFILIATED*

Respect comes first for Plies. He has to respect you as a man, then as an artist, for him to collaborate with you. For the first time ever, working on his new project, he reached out to fellow rappers. Although he still won't divulge names, he said he collaborated with one MC in Atlanta. Plies said the mainstream audience "won't understand" another collaborator, but the underground will definitely tune in.
"Goon Affiliated, I had the pleasure of having my brother home for this album," he told us of the LP's title while parked on his tour bus in ATL. "He actually came up with the title of this album. The three previous albums, 'real' was incorporated into the album title. For me, we felt Goon Affiliated wasn't too gangsta, wasn't too soft. It was right in the middle. Kids in the suburbs could have goon friends and be goon affiliated. You could be a street cat and not call yourself a 'goon' but have goon homeboys and be goon affiliated. Or you could be a goon and be goon affiliated. It's a whole diverse situation for me."

Plies said having big bro Big Gates home is just adding to his overall project. In addition to the album title, Gates is also helping to critique records.

"For me, to have my brother home ... I was more than excited about ... having the chance to go through the album the other day and have that other ear I didn't have," Plies described. "It's some songs I put on my album that the streets ended up loving, but I had better songs than that. People will see this time, with this fourth album, there won't be nothing like it."

Plies already leaked the brash track "Becky," and another cut he said to check for is based on a TV program.

"I got a song right now called 'First 48,' " the Florida native revealed. "It's wrapped around the whole TV series 'The First 48 Hours.' I'm telling you on the record: 'Everybody is a goon until they catch a case/ When the detectives get to the talking/ All that gangsta sh-- fades away/ The first 10 minutes, dog, you started off straight/ Detective applied a little pressure, you turn around and break.'

"That whole situation for me, that intro, I'm sitting here watching TV, and I didn't know it was that many unreal dudes still left in the streets," he continued. "I just focused on that situation. That's one of them records on my album I call 'choir rehearsal.' I know everybody is gonna sing it every time I perform it."