As Preserved makes its way around the Strange Music universe during its first week of release, Young Bleed looks to establish a permanent spot within Strange Lane. The veteran MC has been busy promoting his latest release and has seen firsthand how people all over are receiving his new music. We spoke with Young Bleed hours before the release of Preserved and asked him to share his thoughts on the album, the high profile collaborations, and his expectations from the fans. As Young Bleed would let us know, good music shines through, no matter the region.

Who decided to have you collaborate with Tech N9ne and Brotha Lynch Hung for “How You Do Dat Again”?

Actually Dave Weiner. He thought it would be a good look for the company to revamp that song and try to get it in the No Limit range, of course, what the song was, if not beyond it. He felt like it was perfect for Tech N9ne and Brotha Lynch, coming from my same genre as well as my same era as far as the late 90’s. You know, put the OG’s on there together and see what we come back with man. That’s a good look and a good move for all of us as a whole, you know.

What’s it been like working with Tech N9ne?

Monster man, Beautiful, I been wanting to work with Tech for years. I finally got my chance and we put together both times, so yeah I’m looking forward to doing more things in the future man.

What did you think of the end result of “How You Do Dat Again”?

I love it. I was in particular at first, didn’t know how the South was going to take to it. That’s the origins of both songs, my original version and of course the remix with Master P and C-loc, No Limit at the time. I was in particular about how that would sound with a lot of guests. You know, a lot of people are die hard Tech fans and die hard Lynch fans, but it’s spread as far as the South. Some people know about them, some don’t know about them, unless I mention a situation like “Questions” or something like that. I didn’t know really how that would take off, but the South loving it as well as the rest of the country. So yeah, beautiful.

You also worked with Juvenile on “Boot Up”, how did that come about?

Juve is family with me man, not necessarily blood related, but one of my sisters was good friends with one of his managers. She always tried to make the link between me and Juve. We just got the opportunity one time, he was doing a show in Baton Rouge. I had the opportunity to kick, show out, and meet the brother in the flesh. From that, he knew about me, I knew about him, talked about doing something. Within the matter of a year or so later, this was like in ‘04, right before Katrina, so after Katrina Juve came to Dallas again. I’d move to Dallas for about six to seven years, when I found out he was out there, I went and met him at one of his interviews. We talked about it, put a number together, and he came through for me. He’s in a real way family. Really, this is the second time I did a song with Juve. On my last record, I had a song with Juve called “Bounce It”, on my Once Upon A Time In Amedica album. That was the first song I actually had with Juvenile. He’s on both of my records back to back. The solo I put out in ‘07/’08, Once Upon A Time In Amedica as well as Preserved.

Why do you think the two of you have such great chemistry?

We got that deep southern drawl, that New Orleans lean, swag, and slang combined with that Baton Rouge lingo, swag, and slang. It’s like two next door neighbors man. He giving it to you from a New Orleans standpoint, I’m giving you the BR, and putting it together at the end.

Do you find that a lot of the old school Young Bleed fans are coming back around for Preserved?

Yeah man, a lot of people didn’t know if I was alive or dead or in jail or what the case might have been. A lot of them was popping up on the Twitter or Facebook and in the streets. Block to block, city to city, state to state, so it’s a surprise. Yeah, it’s phenomenal.

What are some of your favorite songs from Preserved?

“Holla At Uh Dog” man, it’s so many to be honest, I like the whole album from beginning to end, so it’s hard to narrow it down. In particular, “Holla At Uh Dog”, “How You Do Dat Again”, and I want to give you something outside of the single, you know, with Juve of course. Songs like “Hurt Nobody”, “It’ll Go Down”, “M.O.E.”, it just comes to mind right off the top. “Call The Police” and it’s origins as far as that, is me searching this Louisiana Cajun sound, so it gives me a lot of identity and really captures the essence of going back to the roots for me. Pretty much, the whole album, I like the whole album.

Click here to purchase Preserved on iTunes.

-Victor Sandoval, Assistant Editor Strange Music

Follow Victor on Twitter: @VicMSandoval