Features : Feature: Ace Hood (Gutta) – Cash Flow..

Ace Hood says his name means he’s a force to be reckoned with. “Every time you think of ‘ace,’ you think of ‘one.’ I always took myself as an army within itself.

“This whole mixtape, I gave them a series of different looks,” he added about his new release, Ace Won’t Fold. “I can swag it either way, not just giving them one perspective of me.”

Ace is the lead artist from DJ Khaled’s We the Best Records and has the stupidly hot “Cash Flow” song out with T-Pain and Rick Ross. He got along with Khaled by being a professional. The charismatic spinner had already heard of Ace’s reputation through the underground circuit, but Hood met the DJ at a Miami radio station and brought him a package with a demo, picture and bio, none of that “Put me on, son!” crap.

“The music I provided him with and the bio was an extra boost,” Hood said. “When he heard it, he was like, ‘Yeah,’ and hit my manager back.’ He was like, ‘I like his swag. I wanna hear him on a bigger record.’ ”

Khaled sent him “I’m So Hood” just to see how he would sound over that, and Ace served the track. A couple of weeks later, he was signed to Khaled’s label. A couple of weeks after that, he was inked to Def Jam.

“When I seen him, I seen that star glow in him,” Khaled said. “He made me stop. I heard the music, and I was like, ‘He’s gonna be one of the best.’ When I vibed with him, he fits in with the family immediately. It feels good to bring the future to life.”

Ace’s Gutter LP comes out August 26.

“That’s just a representation of me. The bottom,” Ace explained of the album. “It represents Florida’s Dade County, Broward County. We can be fly at moments in that Louis V, but we can kick it in the white tee. I felt that way right out the womb: gutter.”

Rick Ross, T-Pain, Plies, DJ Nasty, Justice League and Flo Rida are all onboard. Ace’s second single is the title track, which features Trick Daddy. DJ Khaled is dropping his next album, We Global Now, this summer as well. The first single, “Out Here Grinding, ” features Ace Hood, Lil Boosie, Lil Wayne, Akon, Rick Ross, Plies and Trick Daddy.