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 s–t 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 s–t.

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 ni–a’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.

In your last XXL interview, you said you weren’t concerned about sales, that you just wanted to make a great album.
Yeah, that’s very not important to me—sales. I’m not set out to be bought. I’m set out to be heard… I’m focused on making great music. Every time I step in the booth, there’s nothing else. I’m not trying to make a great album. I just try to make great music.

Your development as an artist surprised a lot of people. You went from being just another member of Cash Money to being recognized as a top lyricist in the game. Do you ever wonder how the perception of you has changed?
If I thought about that, I’d be the craziest dude in the world. ’Cause perception is from somebody else’s eyes. I can’t get in your head and see what you see, so why would I even care about what you see? F–k what you see. I wish all you b–ches was blind… A lotta people didn’t expect me to be this good. I like them just as well, because now that mean I have to be better for them. To blow their mind. Now I have to do something superstupid for them to be like, “Damn, I ain’t never knew you’d be this good.”

Have you felt the change from just a rapper to a superstar?
[Long pause] I’d be lying if I say I don’t. I’m trying to be modest. Yeah, I did. Because I carry myself different now. I dress different now. I act different. As far as behind the mic, though, no. Because I don’t look at myself as a superstar behind the mic. Never have. I look at myself as—I don’t know why I keep using these damn words—great or the best. As far as the skills part of it or the technical part of it, that’s the only thing that’s grown. It ain’t about I’ve grown into this superstar. It’s about I’ve grown into this person that people pay attention to. I’ve grown into this person that people expect from.

Is it hard to meet those expectations when you record so much material and with so many different artists? Is it hard to maintain high standards? Some people say you’re what makes those songs hot—
I’m what makes the song great. You can’t play “This Is Why I’m Hot” on the radio right now. They gon’ call up and be like, “What the hell is that?” [Sings the hook to last winter’s ubiquitous hit from Mims] This is why… That’s not hot. That’s old. You can play “Tha Block Is Hot.” F–k my song. You can play Destiny’s Child “Soldier”! You could do that. That’s okay. You could play Lloyd’s “You.” Chris Brown. I don’t make hot music. I make great music. If I make hot music, then I been on fire for a long f–kin’ time. The flame is burning out, sweetheart. I’m not hot. I’m great.

Okay. The collaborations with nonrappers like Gym Class Heroes and Enrique Iglesias obviously expand your audience and increase your visibility. But do you think it could be damaging in any way?
No, I just think it’s setting a trend for music. Like, if you wanna be successful, you gotta work like shortie. You gon’ see him on the BET Awards. He gon’ perform twice on that bitch. On MTV Awards. He gon’ be on the pre-show performance. And then he gon’ come out with a new mixtape, and then he gon’ be on this person single. You gotta tackle it like I do. I think I’ma set that bar and have people thinking, man—

That working hard actually works.
Yeah. I set a bar for everybody, mentally. Everybody in the game. I say mental bar ’cause of what I think they can or can’t do. ’Cause I don’t know what nobody can do. I don’t think nobody knows what they can do ’til they do it… A lotta people have better situations than I, and they know that. People look at me like, “I can do that.” Work that hard. Work like Wayne. I’m changing it. It used to be, “Work like Jamaicans.” Work like Wayne.

[Laughs] 50 called you an industry whore because of all your guest verses. Is there anybody you would turn down doing a record with?
Hell no. Whores get paid. I don’t care. It’s music, let’s make it. I’ll only turn you down if you ain’t got the price. I’ll turn you down and away.

Some people think you’re oversaturating the market, though. Have you ever thought about that?
Listen. [Leans in, speaking directly into the recorder] Darling, I don’t care what nobody think. Talk to me like you talking to Martin Luther King or Malcolm X. You’re not about to ask him about what he think about what somebody said about him. You ’bout to ask him about his greatness, and his greatness only. I don’t care what nobody think. If I did, you wouldn’t be sitting on my muthaf—in’ million-dollar bus in my 15th year at the same muthaf—in’ company and business. I’m a role model. You should get like me. Get like you? No. Get like me. Ya understand me? I’m not hot. Hot dies out. Baby, I’m me. Who the f–k done this? Nobody. Compare me to people that’s not even living, baby. And they didn’t even do it—what they comparing me to. No disrespect to them. You found songs on those people after they died. I’m still living.