I.AM.Unsigned

So before you started to branch out and find your personal voice with rap from the influence of your cousin, who were some of the artists you listened to that inspired you as well?

Well I was in Ohio and my cousin was out here in Atlanta. So I would see him every summer or every Christmas. I was really more into the R&B and the singing because I was still more of a crooner -- may actually still be [laughs]. That was kind of my thing even though I enjoyed Hip-Hop but had never really thought about writing any Hip-Hop until way later. For me it was just the R&B, the soul, the Motown because that’s what I grew up on. My mother was always in the theater, so I would listen in various theaters and my mother would also play me songs from there as well. My mom was also very interested in the theater so she had me in plays and shows as well. I was always there and became very comfortable on the stage. She used to make me come in the room and sing songs for people [laughs].

When I say this has been my whole life, I really mean that it’s been my whole life [laughs].

I’d also be curious to know if you had interest or experience in poetry at all, while you were starting to write?

Uh, yeah just a little bit. I dabbled in it a bit during high school. But I’m a writer and I liked writing. I’m also a huge reader. I’m always writing something though, and am actually a published writer and have actually written for this publication called J’dore Magazine. I’ve written articles for them and I’ve also written about MMA, Black Scientists and Hip-Hop. Hip-Hop was actually the first thing I had ever really really written about.

I’m also a ghost writer for a number of underground rappers too.

Talk about Ghost writing! It’s probably one of the most talked about but simultaneously taboo discussions among the Hip-Hop community. What’s that been like for you?

And, you have to understand, especially in the Hip-Hop community, we hate plagiarism. We had when people bite other peoples stuff. As a Ghost Writer, at least someone who is doing it, it’s pretty exciting. My music is a particular way, I try to do certain things with my music and I can also try not to do certain things with my music. But what’s different about ghost writing, is that there aren’t those boundaries. You can write for who ever is going to carry the song and get to fantasize a bit and maybe write things that you actually want to write. I really enjoy that aspect of it and it’s also really flattering when someone asks me to write a verse for them [laughs]. That tells me that I’m writing stuff that people are actually feeling, which is my entire point. I want to write things you can feel. i want you to be emotional, or hear it in 10 years and say “oh, you remember when this came out?” I want my music to be that soundtrack to your life and that’s why I write the way I do.

When did you start to actually take the recording and distributing part of your music more seriously? You had said previously that it has always been a part of your life, and that you had recorded a tape or two at the beginning. What came next?

I would say when I moved to Atlanta from Queens. I actually used to live in DC and then my mom moved and I do too, and so on. But when in Queens, we lived in Far Rockaway and when we got ready to move down here in Atlanta I had been pulled over. I was actually pulled over and I had a warrant and was held for not that long, maybe about 9 days wailing to get expedited. I didn’t know anybody in Atlanta at the time and I was just like “I need to be doing something”. I had finished school and was out of high school I mean, and I knew my favorite cousin was down here who rapped. I had said that when I got to Atlanta I was going to rap. I was going to get a job and get started with everything.

When I had gotten there myself, my cousin and a couple of guys he had just met decided to form a group called Killa Crew, the four of us. We had the North guy, a West Coast guy, a more Midwest and a Down South guy. That’s when I really started taking it serious as we were booking studio time, buying beats and everything.We ended up splitting over creative differences in our song choices. I wen my own way and linked up with some new folk who I’m still in contact with today.

Did you then start focusing on a personal project once you made some new connections and got some professional recording under your belt?

Yeah man, actually after the Kiila Crew broke up, me and my homeboy started writing stuff as C.R.I.M.E., ‘Creative Rhymes Inciting Music Evolution’. But after we had broken up with that endeavor, I was contacted by this guy who was an A&R for an independent label and ended up getting signed to the label. There was actually a bunch of us that had gotten signed but nothing ever happened.

I mean, people would be there in the studio not really working, chilling and they were only making music for 2 out of the 12 other artists that were around. I ended up leaving and there was this A&R who actually became my manager and this producer that I met there left when I left and we all started working on an album. We were working together on the album and it was great. It was “Both Sides of the Coin”. It was an underground release and I think it went pretty well.

Was the response pretty positive, as it was your very first and you had been working hard for some time to get your music out there?

Oh yeah it definitely was, and [music] was something that I’ve always wanted to do for my life. I can’t not do music because it’s been my entire life [laughs].

You were saying earlier that you had some performance experience both in school and in theater, what was it like for you to start performing as a rapper?

Right, I’ve always been performing and everyday I’ve been so involved with live performances. Even in the group I was previously in, we had done a few shows and taught me a lot for being prepared for shows. After my first album I was doing my first round of performances. I was on and off because me and my wife were having kids [laughs], but now I’m back at it and there should be no more kids anytime soon [laughs].

I’m sure! So how did you performing and opening up for The Eastside Boyz come about?

Actually I was doing shows at the time at a place called Cafe 290 and met this guy who was actually the Eastside Boyz manager and also had a couple of other artists. He had seen me in other shows and asked who was managing me and long story short, he became my new manager. I used to actually open up for Eastside Boyz a lot. I still see them and just opened a show for them in October. Any time they are in Atlanta and do shows, I’m always there and they love the music that I’m making now. 

I can tell by both listening to your music as well as speaking with you, that you care about the type of music you put out there. That’s evident through your writing and love for writing. What has really kept you motivated to continue bringing that type of insightful experience to your listeners and make certain topics resonate?

Yeah I was lucky enough to grow up with a parent who was alive in the 60s and was also around during the Civil Rights movement, who as a child, had Martin Luther King pat her on the head. So growing up I had a real Pan-African awareness, though not as much as I do now. My mother was always a big advocate for music meaning something and so just listening to her talk about that, I think we have that responsibility. We are in that position to speak to folks and really put out something that we’d actually want to hear. 

Now don’t get me wrong there are all types of music and I’m not saying that people who make music strictly for entertainment aren’t doing it with a message, because some people like being entertained without necessarily being intentionally uplifted in a sense. Some people just want to dance, or relax and let the music take them, because there is a place for all music, you know what I mean? I think for me I actually want to make music that matters and put a message in my songs. I want you to get something out of it. That’s what I’m trying to do. 

It can often times be used as a modicum of change, if its intentionally meant to do that. I think Music is a driving force in that respect...

[Interrupts] and that’s why I wanted to be a part Hip-Hop because it can change the world. It does give a voice that can’t be silenced. You can’t silence Hip-Hop, it’s there. I mean you have people like Pac who’s music lives on, and I was a Biggie fan [laughs], you know what I’m saying? But I came to understand what that was all about and realized that people were actually trying to silence Pac. He was saying too much [laughs], because it’s dangerous. And that’s the problem that  a lot of people have with me. I say what I mean, and what how am I not loving you or being a friend, if I’m not being completely full with you in my words? 

It’s the same thing when it comes to knowledge. That’s something you have to share and spread...it’s not yours [laughs]. And I have to say this too, Felix, Mr. Greycloud, I don’t know if  I would even be rapping right now if it wasn’t for him.

Tell us more about that! How has he helped you? 

When my mother had passed away, I lost all of my passion for music. I couldn’t write or anything really. Because she had always been my music inspiration and had taught me how to sing, gave me my listening ear, break music down for me, and how things run on rhythm. So when she passed I was like “I’m done...” When I had moved to where I am now, Felix was actually living in the building right across from me. We just were talking one day and connected over music and also the loss of his daughter as well. He too didn’t want to do any music, but just talking to him about that really helped. We were playing beats and starting writing again. 

Born Terance Williamson in the Pollock Town section of Camden, Gramm’s early life was a constant spiral of turmoil. “Pollock Town was rough,” he admits. “But it was all I knew. You don’t really realize how rough your environment is until you get out of it. Coming up out of there was less than possible for most cats.”

Not unlike many other young, Black men from the bricks, Gramm is familiar with instability and uncertainty. His mother gave him up for adoption when he was only four years old. Subsequently, that was the last time he had seen his father as well. And even though his foster parents did everything they could to give young Terance the proper Christian upbringing, he still fell victim to the streets early in life.

His behavior had gotten so bad that his parents kicked him out of the house when Gramm was only 16. Hopping from one family member’s couch to the next and then to sleeping on park benches, he found himself at a crossroads. On his 18th birthday, he was serving time in county jail on burglary charges.

He was facing five years and had already spent six months behind bars. He knew that he would either be swallowed up by the streets or do something positive to turn his life around.

“I said to God ‘if you truly are real, I need you to show me,’” he recalls, ‘”and if you show me, I’ll walk with you from here on in…’ And I stayed true to that promise.”

Two weeks later, the charges were mysteriously dropped to misdemeanor trespassing. The judge handed him three years on probation and he was ordered to get a job and to attend college.

He enrolled in Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va.

“I was brought up on Christianity, God and going to church,” says Gramm. “I didn’t follow it because I felt like it was forced down my throat since childhood. So I always knew God. It’s like learning to ride a bike; you don’t forget it. You always have that since of right from wrong.”

It was during this same time that Gramm revisited an old passion for hip hop that started when he started rapping at age seven. Then, in 2009, he dropped his mixtape debut The Dedication and distributed it throughout the Northeast. 

Since, he has kept his name ringing with collaborative mixtapes with fellow independent rappers Travis James,Prominence and Mell Omii

“My music is about my beliefs, my experiences, my heart and how I feel about things,” Gramm explains. “It’s not even about Christian rap. We don’t have to take every bad situation given to us lying down. We can make our situations different. We can change ourselves in a bad situation.”

Continuing to pass on that knowledge, Gramm released mixtape The Rededication aka REDASH Adding to his performance roster, Gramm is also pursuing another of his childhood dreams of acting in feature films & TV show

With no plans of letting up in the future, Gramm is going full speed ahead ... His voice is clear and concise as he speaks from the heart...

What was your earliest music memory like?

Alright..I can’t remember the year, but I think it was ‘96 to ‘98, I was into Alternative, slight rock, Punk Rock and maybe a little of Hip-Hop because I was really young at the time and it didn’t catch my ear. I believe it was when I first heard the track “I Used to Love H.E.R.” by Common and when I played it I really listened to it, you know what I’m saying? What was so creative about how he did that song, was how he could talk about a physical item as a person and then symbolically link it to something else. It sparked my interest.

That was my introduction into Hip-Hop at least, and I just kept getting more and more interested and just wanted to be a part of the culture. I got addicted to Hip-Hop man. Common Sense started it for me.

 Nice! So who else inspired you as your interest in Hip-Hop began to grow more?

Man, there were so many artists -- Nas, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Common Sense, uh Rakim...

 That is a great list [laughs]!

Yeah man, Kool G Rap, Big Pun, Tupac, and Jay Z, -- pretty much all of them man. They had all really stuck out to me. Listening to these guys and how they were so descriptive of what they were going through, was great. Their play on words were great and everything.

Listen. I’m an emcee and I’m one of those emcees who go hard with the punchlines. If you listen to my music, like really listen to it, almost every bar I write has a punchline, phrase or metaphor. I loved all that stuff. That’s what really got me though, those artists that I named who were just amazing during 90s Hip-Hop man [laughs].

 When did you start taking music seriously and begin writing and recording for yourself?

I think it was in like 2007 I believe. That’s when I started taking it really seriously, even though I had been doing it all my life. But since I was a young cat I think my first time really writing was out in the Bronx. I used to be out there posted on the block doing my thing or whatever and there were a couple of dudes out there that were really good at this rhyming s***. They were hustlers too though, doing their thing, but they could spit. They took it a little more seriously than I did at the time, but seeing them made me want to be a part of that for sure, you know what I’m saying?

Once I really started posting on the block with these two cats, that’s when I really began jumping into cyphers. I ended up really devoting my time out there to that and just kept going and going, like “f*** it, I’m going to make something out of this.”

I took my skills to a studio and started recording and making more music. The more and more people that started to hear me, the more people kept telling me to take is seriously and that I had a talent for word play.

 So what was all that like for you, releasing music and recording for the first time?

Hmm, I want to say the right word -- I know there’s a lot of ways artists feel about getting in the booth for the very first time. I’d have to say it felt “light”, definitely felt “light”. I was talking about everything man, from things that were going on around me, my experiences, everything.

 Was that a similar theme in the work you decided to put out on your first project True Sins?

Oh yeah man, definitely. Let me tell you though, I was super critical man. Shoutouts to everyone involved, but yeah, it was good! I was really critical about it and I probably had recorded over 40 songs, just to pick out the 17 tracks that made it on the project. I played all the tracks and picked out the ones that I felt were the most real and also sounded very Hip-Hop, you know what I mean?

I will say, that this was before the time where Hip-Hop was going through its transformation and becoming the dummed down, Dr. Seuss raps these youngins’ are coming up with today. I was really going through it because I wanted to make sure this was what I wanted to do. I listened to it for about 3 days after I had chosen all the tracks. I listened to what order I was going to put them in and when the end result came out, I was just loving it. It was definitely just an emotional roller coaster as a lot of the stuff I wrote for “True Sins” was really personal for me. It was an introduction to the world for me. If you want to know who Ciph Roundz is, listen to “True Sins”. It was a great project and I fell in love with it after its completion. I had a vision for it and the way I envisioned it in my head, was the exact way I wanted it to come out. It was a great feeling man. 

  How soon after that did you start connecting with the guys from the Power Circle, and how has that been helpful for you in anyway?

Aw man, The Power Circle are my brothers man. They are family that’s made from water, and sometimes water is thicker than blood, you know what I’m saying? With them it was a great encounter initially meeting them – it was over Facebook actually, and I was real close with OneSun and Greycloud. We had been cool since elementary school. I was really supportive of their movement even though I didn’t think it was a movement at the time. They kind of had their separate rap groups, but were overall really supportive of each other. But it was pretty much Hip-Hop artists supporting other Hip-Hop artists, it was great. Also at that time you really didn’t see too much of that genuinely in Hip-Hop, so it became something I really admired. 

We kind of naturally started sharing each other’s music, not even on some tit for tat s***, you know what I mean? We all just liked each other’s music and rotated it heavily. After about a year or two we all had really become family man, and now we here still standing. It’s cool, you know what I mean? We came across a few knuckle heads who are no longer a part of this, but we are stronger than ever man. I mean you have 12 great artists who are relentless. We have these plugs out there who are really supportive and sharing the music – it honestly can’t get any better than this. Naturally you’d have a lot of dudes out there who are just a bunch of “yes” men. Matter of fact, it becomes a group of “yes” men, that don’t keep it real or support each other unless they have some type of beneficial gain or agenda behind it. It’s really sad man, but shout out to my Power Circle brothers, we definitely keep our s*** moving strong.  

 Have any of them given you any good concrete advice about navigating the music world?

I mean they are like a family and they always tell me – actually man, I go through a lot and there’s drama in my life [laughs], but that’s everybody. But being with these guys, they can tell and they always try to uplift you and reach out with their helping hand. That’s what’s really dope about them and it’s something I really appreciated about these dudes. 

Honestly though, the biggest piece of advice that they give me is “never give up”. The Power Circle sees potential and really see the good in people man and they have been doing this for years. So when they see another artist like myself they really just see your energy and try to bring you up with them. Even being in the studio with dudes like Panic, OneSun and Fontaine, it’s amazing to see what they do and just to be around that type of energy. Just watching the motivation and inspiration while they are in that creative space is also the unspoken advice that I can get from them. 

 Speaking of being in the studio with A. Fontaine, what was it like to come up with your collaborative song “Put Ya Hands Up”?

He’s honestly one of my favorite artists man, he’s ridiculous and he has the flow for it, delivery, and his lyrics are crazy. That dude is a f******* rap robot man [laughs], I tell you. Working with him is a pleasure man. The first time I had done a collaboration with him was on a song with the whole Power Circle and he was killing the flow. I remember sitting there listening to him like “yo who the f*** is this?!” I’ve really been a fan of his since day one, you know what I’m saying? He’s easily Top 10 overall rappers in the game man...not just underground either. So doing this collab with him was just an honor and a pleasure man. It was a great collaboration and it’s definitely not the only one we will do. But I thank everyone for the support and love for it!

 So what can you tell us about your new album This Way Up?

Get ready... [Laughs]. No but this one is gonna have crazy features from mostly [Power Circle]. A good portion of it will probably be collaborations and the other will be just me. Definitely get ready for it though. It’ll probably have two sides...I guess like a double-sided tracklist. It’s going to be dope. I have a lot of turn up s*** on there and real hip-hop s*** too. The bars are crazy and the artists that came in with their flows too, are crazy man. 

It’s honestly nothing too different if you were to ask me. The bars have stepped up and the beat selection has definitely stepped up too. I’m considering it an enhanced version of my last couple of albums. 

 While there may be some similarities, I’m sure there will be some differences in this project compared to your other previous ones? 

Basically with “True Sins” I was just introducing myself to the world in a more gritty, dark and hip-hop driven way than on “Manifest Overload”. So now, with “This Way Up” I can talk about something different with a different angle and point of view. I’m trying to get to that level where I can give fans something different, you know [laughs]? 

But honestly, it’s “True Sins” and “Manifest Overload” put together, just enhanced overall. Stay tuned for it and to my understanding it’s highly anticipated...

 What are your thoughts on the current state of Hip-Hop, surrounding the debate about it’s quality and recent evolution? 

It f****** sucks. But I’m not gonna lie there are Hip-Hop artists that are out there though, really holding it down. There is so much I can say about it though. I don’t think that the fans are necessarily the reason behind this either, it’s complicated. How can I say this...? Alright, so Hip-Hop is alive and it’s definitely out there. Even today’s trash rappers were inspired by real Hip-Hop, but are just not as lyrically inclined or talented as some of our past inspirations as far as artists. I’m sure they all have Hip-Hop in their hearts when they do create stuff, but they do their own style I guess. Hip-Hop is not what it used to be though -- anymore at least, because these guys aren’t looking for it, they are looking for money. 

We got a young and dumb generation out there, and I’m not trying to offend anyone at all, but this younger generation likes some of this ignorant stuff. Hip-Hop is unity, it’s love, it’s thought, it’s more powerful than what is being considered Hip-Hop in this day and age. Unfortunately it’s more marketable, so now who ever controls what gets put out and marketed, those are the people who we have to blame for what’s happening to Hip-Hop today. We got real lyricists out there and it’s not always fair to say that “Hip-Hop is dead”, it’s just a more sinister thing now. It’s just in a struggle, although it’s an evolving thing just like any other part of music. Let’s just see what happens. 

 Anything else you’d like to leave us with?

We definitely appreciate you guys and appreciate the movement you guys are supporting. There is a lot of talent out there that gets unnoticed. Like I was saying before they aren’t going to push real Hip-Hop and aren’t going to be giving out real lyrics or opening up everybody’s mind. 

How and when did you decide that music was what you wanted to do?

I remember wanting to be an artist around 10 years old, watching performances on TV. I always liked music I guess. I remember singing to the radio and learning all the words to “Killing Me Softly”. I would always sing that bridge when she holds out that note [laughs]. But anyways I realized that once I got older it would be cool to be on stage, dancing and singing. When I was like – maybe 12 or 11, I used to write songs in my room and from there…well my mom didn’t know I could sing actually, or liked to sing. 

It wasn’t until I was in my early teens at the Boy & Girls club, um there was a talent show, and I had signed up to be in it. My mom had actually worked there and one of the kids who attended the program came up to her and said “did you know Ashley could sing, and that she’s going to be in the talent show?” When they said it, my mom was so confused and thought they were talking about one of her other daughters. Once she had found out that I could sing, she would have me singing for different people. It was friends, family, and you know I was really nervous. At the time, I wasn’t like ‘oh yeah, I want to let the world know I can sing..” I was really shy about it. She did encourage me to get over that fear over time, but still to this day I get nervous, but I just do it in spite of the nerves. My mom helped me to get to that point where I just do it anyways.

When did you record your first song, and what was that like? 

 I recorded my first song when I was 16. It never came out to the public [laughs], and I don’t know if it ever will. No one even has it anymore, I don’t think. Anyways, a friend of mine whose cousin knew someone, who knew someone, who knew someone with a studio and I was really excited about. It was the first time I heard my voice over a beat and played back for me. It was the first time I was able to hear all the different layers of songs. When I was 18, I was recording music myself with my boyfriend at the time, he had his own home studio set up in his room and I would just record myself. I knew how to work Pro Tools and would use it to make my own songs. I mean they were really amateur, but I used to bring them to this producer I ended up working with. He’s actually the producer that worked on my first album with me.

 Who were some of your musical influences as a child? Who were some of those singers that made you feel like you wanted to sing and dance, just like them?

So definitely Lauryn Hill, India Arie, and I don’t know how I discovered her, I just remember hearing her music somewhere. Wherever I heard it though, it just stuck. Some others would be…Britney Spears, Aaliyah, Alanis Morristte, and who else -- Mary Mary. 

We listened to a lot of Gospel when I was growing up because my mother would always listen to it. We would even listen on the Christian/Gospel radio station. LIke she grew up on secular music, but [my mom] was a single mom and her faith in god really guided  her through life, so we would listen to a lot of Gospel music. 

But in a nutshell it’s the Neo-Soul artists like Lauryn Hill, India Arie…Musiq Soulchild. I loved and was so inspired by it all -- Gospel, Hip-Hop, Neo-soul -- Oh Beyonce when I was a teen [laughs], Destiny’s Child before she became Beyonce. I like Toni Braxton too. I listen to it all.

So you were talking about recording your first song earlier; what was that experience like?! How did it sound?

I remember hearing myself back and being like “I sound like that?” I had already knew what I sounded like, but I hadn’t known fully. I mean I knew because I used go and get my moms tapes and record over them [laughs]. You remember those tape recorders ? [laughs]. I would just record myself talking just to see if I could hear myself, how I sing, or some of my song ideas  and singing songs I liked. But when it came to hearing a song that I’d done, being able to add to my voice, add harmonies, make it sound more like a song I’d hear on the radio. 

I remember feeling a little nervous, because there were other people in the room during the process of recording. And even to this day, now that I do it so much, I can easily be warmed up and able to just record freely and any way I’d like. 

How long was it after you recorded your first track, had you started working on your very first project? Were you recording music for it or beginning to put anything else out? 

Well I was just recording myself and I was also in college at the time. I didn’t have the resources but I still wanted to make music at the time. I was friends with this girl from school with access to a studio, who was also a member of this girl group. I wasn’t recording too heavily at the time, but I asked her if I could come to the studio with her to check it out. For whatever reason I didn’t make it into the studio with her, but my first time actually being able to record consistently was when my daughter’s dad, then boyfriend at the time who had access to a studio and those resources that I could use whenever I wanted. I was a freshman when I started doing that and was also doing shows here and there and was featured on four projects of a friend of mine. We had done a show together and that’s how he knew about me. He reached out anytime he needed a singer. When I had gotten pregnant my sophomore year, I had stopped doing music for a bit and stopped performing. It was all something I still wanted to do, but I had written it off for a while.

I didn’t want to let being a new mother stop me from continuing to pursue my dreams. I was wanting to work with him for a long time and people were asking about my music. I had finally wanted to do a project and I had gotten my previous recordings from my daughter’s dad’s house and was like “here’s what I can do”. He was like “yeah, I’d love to work with you”, and we just started working on music -- nothing that was geared towards a project or anything. Shortly after we started working together, I had gotten booked to headline a gig, without even having an EP or a project out. 

But to answer the question [laughs] it had been about 6 years all together since the last time I had recorded at age 16. 

Was that a good amount of time for you to, maybe, grow and really discover the type of artist you wanted to be, or the sound you wanted? 

I did grow, but I hadn’t really figured out my sound yet. I remember being at my daughter’s father’s house and just sifting through beats on the internet and when I heard something I liked, I would use it. When it came to my album, I had been working with a producer who already had a particular style that I liked and could create to. I was pairing my creativity and what I could come up with, and base it on a sound that was given. My style wasn’t necessarily chosen, I worked with what I had. Because I didn’t have the luxury of saying “oh this is what I’m going to sound like, and I’m going to go out and find someone who can make this sound for me”, I had a producer that loved working with me and had the stuff that he made. He had a Hip-Hop sound, it was his thing. I ended up having this Lauryn Hill-esque sound because it was like Neo-Soul sounds over Hip-Hop beats and it gives you a bit of a cadence. It worked for me and was pretty natural because I had always liked to rap [laughs], although I’m not a rapper. 

He also liked more guitar driven sounds, and I do as well. I think that’s where I’d like to go with [my music], for a more earthy acoustic vibe. 

It sounds like you were headed that way with your latest “Be You” album, as you blended both the acoustic vibes and Hip-Hop sounds. We are huge fans of this album and love everything that you did musically! You also seem pretty confident in pursuing this sound, and I think fans will really enjoy it. 

Aww, yeah that’s great to hear, thanks! That gives me some confirmation because I’ve been trying to become more consistent with practicing and teaching myself the guitar. It would be cool to have that for my performances and also just to have as a tool to come up with songs and create melodies and chords -- all that stuff. 

Let’s fast forward a bit and talk about The Voice! 

The Voice, I remember seeing commercials for it when it was first coming out for the first season. I had watched some episodes of the the seasons and was a fan of these singers stories. The show had a great reputation around the time I became interested in auditioning. It was just a chance for me to make my dreams more real. 

It’s funny because I had auditioned for American Idol when I was....17? I think and then again when I was pregnant at 19. But when I saw The Voice I knew for sure that it would be an opportunity I needed to take. I had a small fan following and it was recommended by one of them that I seriously think about doing it. So I check out the details and really thought about it. 

I had no idea you did American Idol, that’s good to know! So once you did your research regarding auditioning for The Voice, what was that experience like? 

Well getting to the audition was hectic. I really didn’t think much of it until the day of really. I had figured that I’d go and stop by after my sister’s graduation party. The place where the audition was, was actually in between the two [laughs]. So I end up auditioning and making it into the “call back” round. I also got to the interview part of the process, which some people didn’t get. Once I had gotten the interview, I had thought “oh I’ve got this in the bag!” Long story short I didn’t get a call back. However I had found out several months later that they would be auditioning for another season and it would be in Chicago. I thought to myself “I can drive down there”, from Minneapolis. 

I ended up auditioning again and getting further than I did last time. I was just “I want to get further each time I audition” and I had come all the way out here. I kept getting further and further and getting excited looking at the talent that was around me. It was a lot of fun and was a great experience and before I knew it, I ended up in the televised portion of the Blind Auditions. I just remember being nervous and my heart was beating so fast, I was finally singing in front of the judges on this stage. I remember just being like “I just need one chair to be on the show.” I started singing and you know they usually enjoy hearing singers belt out these insanely good notes and all this. Mind you I’m not a belting singer [laughs], so I was doing everything I could to not sing a second song. So I was hoping they really liked me. Here I was being on this stage after watching other peoples stories unfold on TV, being happy for the them, even crying and being a fan of shows like American Idol and X - Factor...I honestly didn’t expect a four chair turn around. I knew it was possible, but for whatever reason I was convinced I would only get one. 

Then you ended up picking Adam Levine, correct? 

Yeah, I picked Adam [laughs] because I felt like we vibes off of the same ideas about music. Also everywhere I’d go I would hear Maroon 5 on the radio, or in the store, on in an elevator [laughs]. So I saw that as a sign. I then made it to the battle round against Jason Blake and won that. However the next round they had put me against Tessane Chin, who was arguably the best singer on the show. Now don’t get me wrong everyone was super talented and had amazing voices, she was another great singer and definitely the best in our season. So they put me up against her and clearly I may not be able to win this one, but was like “maybe there will be a save.” There were none left by the time our competition was up.

When I didn’t make it to the next round, I had thought you know “well I made it a lot further than the last time”, so I was proud of that. In hindsight I was also really supportive of Tessane and getting people to vote as well. She herself was pretty supportive and a great person who I think really deserved her win that season. Anyways it got me a lot of opportunities and it was a great platform for me!

Thanks for that, I know many people are curious about how the whole process works behind the scenes of these shows. 

Oh yeah, no problem!

So post-The Voice, did you have to figure out what was next ? Or had you hit the ground running and started creating new music to follow the exposure you had gotten from the show and your previously released album?

Yeah, I had already released an album, but I didn’t have management. So I wasn’t able to -- well I was really doing things on my own. I just thought “why don’t I just do what I did before?” which was make music and perform. I didn’t have anything that was in the process of being released or anything, right after. I did release just before though -- because on the show you have to sign a contract that says you can’t release music even if it’s on your own or another party. I had released an acoustic version of my first album in June of 2013 and that was just before my Blind Audition. 

When I had came back home I had confidence to really get working again, but my producer at the time was already working on another project. I was home for about two and a half months before I started making music again, and the “Be You” album was completed over that span of time. It was supposed to come out around November of 2014 but ended up being released in March of 2015. 

Let’s finally talk about “Be You” in its entirety. What was the creative process like in terms of the inspiration behind the album and its message? How important was this for you? 

When it came time to start this project, I remember being like “what is this going to sound like, what are we gonna talk about, where do we go from the starting point?” which was my first album “Something More”. I had to make sure I was meeting expectations and make sure it was of quality. I knew we didn’t want to make anything that was super left field. There were a few moments though, were I felt like I couldn’t talk about certain things in my writing because people had perceived me as a gospel artist from my first album. I mean I had incorporated everything from love, hope, spirituality, relationship issues, putting it all into one. I knew that there were a lot of people who loved that and probably expected that to continue and come next. 

There were songs on this last album like “Intoxicated” and “Pride” or “Ride”, that are more like adult oriented. I had all these questions I was asking myself as I was trying to figure out how much of myself should I essentially give away, and how much of myself should “change” for the sake of acceptance. I was honestly like “look, I’m just trying to make good music and write these songs and as long as I’m being true to myself, I should be good.” As long as I am being who I am, whether it’s the same as anywhere else, it’s just as important as being myself in that moment. So for me to censor myself, I didn’t want to hear that despite knowing I make music for other people. For me it was really important for me to be happy with what I put out. 

Is that how the the album’s title track and album title came along?

Well actually “Be You” the song, was actually one of the last ones to be created for the album. It had been a while after we started putting everything together and my producer gave this beat to me and said it was the third time he had presented it to me. The other times I apparently didn’t like it, but when I heard it again, I was like “Oh I wrote something that I think will go well with this!” I had to slow it down and really play with it. We ended up liking it and flushed it out a bit and just loved it. It then became the intro and we were going back and forth for so long about the title. 

What’s crazy is that the whole ‘Fro idea for the cover artwork was a similar episode of us going back and forth too. I was like “what if I took a picture of myself from the eyebrows up, and put the title in my ‘fro?” This was well before we even had the title though. Then I realized it would be dope to see “Be You” in my ‘fro as I’m wearing my hair natural and that’s a way that I express my contentment with myself. To be honest a short ‘fro wasn’t necessarily a popular trend, nor do I think  people considered it beautiful for this particular way of wearing your hair. Now I see people rocking it more, but women usually like longer hair or fuller, which isn’t a bad thing, but I felt like this would be my truth. That’s why I thought it would work for the cover! 

Makes sense, and that’s crazy how it all worked out like that! Definitely cool to hear the story behind it. How about the song itself, “Be You”?

[Laughs] yeah I was happy with how great everything came together. As far as the inspiration for the song, it stemmed from this whole idea that there are these molds or standards of being, made by society. This could be in any community, whether it’s church, school or work -- we all have these molds that we are trying to fit, these ideals. In doing that we are looking at our flaws and picking things apart that are uncool, or not considered beautiful. It was this whole idea that “yeah, you know what these are my flaws and this is who I am for a reason. I don’t need to change myself because if I’m changing myself, not only am I doing myself a disservice, but I’m wrapped up in what everyone else is doing.” 

It’s all pretty explanatory and definitely not cliche because we don’t have a lot of songs about it. I think sometimes people get tired of hearing things like this, but we thought it was a great message to promote because it’s necessary to put out to the world. 

Well we think it’s a great message and hope that people are listening and giving your music the appreciation it deserves. 

Aww, thank you. It’s honestly a blessing from god to be able to create the music I have and to have an impact on people. I actually had to listen to a couple of songs myself to really uplift myself. You know it’s just great being used by god to really impact people and even myself in this way. We are all essentially being used in some way to do a greater good. I try not to take it for granted or to take any ownership over it. It keeps me humble because god blessed me with a voice, something to say, a producer and a team of people that made this album what it is. My name is on it, but we were all a huge part of it, so thank you!

What are some things that you are excited to embark on as you begin to make new music and get new opportunities? 

I can say that I’m at a point were I’m making music and writing. Over the past week I’ve been really creative. There are some things that I need to get in place before I actually start putting together another project. With that being said, I hope to come out with something in the next 6 months. I know it seems like a long time but time moves fast and it works for my timeline of things. 

I’m also looking to do another music video for another song on the album and continuing to do some performances! I’m just putting it all into god’s hands as I’m still managing myself and trying to figure out what the next “right” move is. I have all these things I want to do, but how much of it should I actually be doing, you know? 

I’m working on some self improvement and getting my walk with god in the right place as well. I know that if those aren’t right, then nothing is. 

Anything else you’d like to leave us with? 

IAU: When did you first realize you wanted to make music?

It had to have been when I was about 8 or 9 years old - it’s actually a funny story. So right before my parents had just gotten divorced, I was brought up on Disney movies and it was the movie Tarzan [laughs] - the part when all of the apes are around singing and they’re just banging on pots and pans in the middle of the campsite. I would go into our kitchen and grab anything that I could, to play along [laughs], and that’s when I knew. I knew I had some rhythm and it was something about the beat at 8 or 9 that I liked [laughs].

Shortly after that, the first song I had actually recognized, was I think an Eminem song. Actually, my mom and her friend were listening to the “Slim Shady” LP this day when they took us to the park. Me and a kid Matthew, the friend that I was with, sat on the bumper of this van that we had at the time, and we listened to the whole album together. Our parents had no idea where we were that whole time [laughs]. But that was the breaking point for me. I had went home and from there I just started writing my own rhymes I guess.

Were you also interested in anything artistic? It sounds like you were pretty inspired by anything that seemed artistic in its nature. 

Besides music, I was always wrapped up in some sort of art as a kid. I was either drawing, even made a lot of comics books [laughs]. I also had a sick obsession with superheroes at that time too. Still do!

What else were you listening to  while you were younger? You’ve mentioned Rock and Rap music being two things you grew up on.

I was listening to people like Eminem obviously, 50 Cent, Biggie, Nas, Dr. Dre, Snoop, N.W.A..D12 and Obie Trice were two important acts to me while growing up -- I went through all different kinds of phases. Then on the rock side I had people like Kid Rock, Fleetwood Mac, ACDC, and a little bit of Led Zeppelin, because I wasn’t too big of a fan of him. My mom listened to a lot of s*** too [laughs], a lot of oldies. She liked hard rock, anything with some kind of drum beat and a rock guitar, you know?

For me, I used to be like “wouldn’t it be cool if one of my favorite rappers, rapped over this type of music?” I actually listened to these bands Creed and NIckleback [laughs]. I had heard a few song from them and was like “this is alright” . But my dad really showed me all of these different rock bands, and all I wanted to do was listen to what my mom showed me you know? I mean, me and my dad weren’t that close, but he did show me some cool rock music. Once I got older in high school, my taste kind of took a turn when I started listening to more Punk Rock and bands like Nofx, to Blink 182 -- one band I could not stand was Green Day though [laughs]. But I listened to a lot of punk rock, was even in a few bands and was a drummer throughout my fours years in high school. I realized though it wasn’t taking me anywhere, so I got rid of my drum set and quit the band and picked up rapping again. It’s been almost three years now.

So what was is about the music itself, or even in rap music that made it resonate with you? Or at least at some point, it made you want to come back, after enjoying punk and rock as much as you did.

I was a really short-tempered/short-fused kid growing up. A lot of it was just like the music honestly. To an extent, there was but so much I could understand from the lyrics, but when I went back to listen, and I was like ‘oh s***!” no wonder why my parents wanted to keep these CDs away from me [laughs] -- now I understand. I guess it was like with more of the rap when I was younger, I feel like it was more of the feeling of the song itself, it really wasn’t about the lyrics. I heard the emotion in a persons voice, but it was just the music that captivated me. I found myself thinking like “I want to do this”. I was really into the challenge.

Growing up then, what was the experience like being in these various punk bands? Were you bursting at the seams because internally you knew you wanted to rap [laughs]?

A friend of mine, right before high school, had shown me a few rock bands at the time. He really wanted me to check out some music from these bands and I kind of get into it. At the time though, I wasn’t really getting a lot out of the rap or the hip-hop I was listening to. I was almost turned off by it and it didn’t have the key elements that it used to while growing up towards the end. It made it difficult to follow and was difficult lyrically as well. 

I remember before my graduation I had wanted to get a drum kit. My parents were able to by a drum kit for me, off of a neighbor -- it was a s*** kit man [laughs]. From there I was studying some of the best drummers of all time, all of these rock drummers. Six years later I was in and out of bands and it was tough man. Being in different groups were fun while it lasted. I had learned a lot and I don’t think I’d be able to sit down and write, play instruments, and structure a song the way I am able to today, was it not for the experience. 

Moving forward with pursuing rap, what was the meaning behind the name “White-T”? 

Oh my god [laughs]. Well Casanova from Underdogs and another guy, we were all in my garage because it was the hang out spot for us [laughs], and we were sitting in the garage,   in the front seat of my Cadillac after recording the last part of my verse.We ended up walking back in side and I had a white t-shirt and some basketball shorts on and he said something like “you look like white something” then it was like “Oh you’re name is White trash, is that what it is?” sarcastically. We were just messing around that day and the name just stuck. Even now people still call me [White-T]. Everybody knows me by that name, even though know I personally don’t really care for it. It is what it is [laughs]. It’s just a name for me...

Well, do you ever think about changing it? 

Yeah, I mean I have, but like to what..? [laughs]. 

[Laughs], fair enough. So what type of history do you have with the guys from the [W]reckless and the Underdogs?

Aww man, working with [W]reckless was really cool. It was probably my last band if I remember. Casanova actually sat me down and was like “yo, do you want to do this or not?” because I was only signed to a one year contract with [W]reckless. I mean I learned a little bit about the music making process. He had a little laptop, with a mic and some loop mix programs that I learned how to use and I produced a few songs.

I had already known the other dudes from high school and what not and we all clicked right away. It was an experience. However, one of my friends in the group decided to  stop [W]reckless and we did a collab and then Underdogs came about. It was actually initially me and Casanova as a duo with our self started Totem Records, because we knew we’d make some really good music together. I mean there were songs that we had where we would just go back and forth rapping. It was great. But it was also interesting because I guess it became hard when I was holding us back as a duo. I was doing other things at that time that I shouldn’t have, and wasn’t too focused on what we were doing. I did however, learn a lot from that and left with a lot of music.

What else did you walk away with from those experiences? You had mentioned earlier that there you and Casanova were essentially business partners in some ways. 

Yeah, we had been talking about making a promotion label or management company. He had actually been in this entrepreneurship class with me in our senior year of high school. I had wanted to take the class because I was interested in learning about business. Although I didn’t know anything in that class, but he did...luckily. Casanova actually wanted to pursue it further and ended up studying business and entrepreneurship at OCC. So I had learned all of that from him, from like the marketing, promotion and management side of things. He would always push me and say “you need to learn how do to this if you want succeed.” I just wanted to pick up the pen and write honestly, but he saw what I didn’t see in myself. I ended up loosing a great friendship after that. 

He gave me a lot and mentored me and you know it just didn’t work out. We ended up splitting and I went to do my own thing, without any real explanation. I regret that because honestly if it wasn’t for him, I don’t think I would’ve started rapping again. 

So how did music help you then throughout all of this and some of those tough times? 

Music honestly was just enough to keep my head afloat....yeah, it helped a lot...[laughs].

There is no denying that your vocal tone is reminiscent of a Hip Hop great Eminem. You’ve previously mentioned to us that this sometimes brings some unwanted comparisons [laughs]. Does that still affect your music making process? 

It sucks man [laughs], it really does. I don’t want it to affect me, but yeah I mean at the beginning a lot of people came at me with that, right off the bat and I was like “this is how I just sound”. But when I played in bands it was the same thing, I was compared to different drummers in various bands as well. I think that’s what began to make it less appealing, playing the drums I mean. That’s when I was like “let me try this rap s*** again”. 

Right, and you’ve taken a bit of a break from music at the moment, but some of the tracks you have available on SoundCloud have been receiving some really positive feedback. Does any of that motivate you to get back in the studio for a new project? Are you currently working on something? 

See and that’s the thing, when I see those plays and those comments on just those few tracks, I’m like “f*** who’s playing these songs?”. One’s about getting revenge on an ex-girlfriend and the other is about getting back up when you are down [laughs]. 

In the beginning when I first left Totem [Records] I had recorded a song that I almost put out publicly. It was me coming at a lot of critics for the Eminem comparison you know? Shortly after I started writing this ‘”Diamond In the Dirt” track. I never finished that song and ended up scrapping it when I came back from rehab. I had recorded other songs but just ended up with the two that are on SoundCloud currently. I had all intentions of making a project and was so indecisive about making an album, mixtape or EP. 

Was this all in anticipation of releasing or finishing “Sin Today, Die Tomorrow”?

I was all over the place at that time trying to figure out marketing, and promo pictures etc., but was thinking of that name actually, “Sin Today, Die Tomorrow” for the project. 

I had went to one of my producers and with the name and he had really liked the title. He wanted me to elaborate a bit about it for him and I basically told him “they say you die with your sins” and to me “Sin Today, Die Tomorrow” had more a metaphorical feel to it and I knew people could relate to. The material that I had already recorded some of the material, but it was a long the lines of you losing yourself just a little bit more “tomorrow”. For me it was reflective of me cutting ties with friends and family and doing all the wrong things, you know? I just felt like everyday something was just eating away at me more and more each day. 

So what do you see for yourself in the future man, what’s next?

I really don’t know man. Everyday your opportunity is at stake, you know? YOu might not get tomorrow. So I just try to take everyday as it comes. I’m sitting here thinking about how I’m getting to the studio this week and how I’m going to lay down this hook, or this verse, etc. It’s just something you do day by day, and that’s just with everything. 

That’s a great way of putting it, “everyday your opportunity is at stake”. That really resonates with a lot of people, I’m sure. 

It’s funny because I just put that in one of my verses that I wrote last night [laughs]. I was like you that would be a cool rhyme, and ended up writing it last night [laughs]. 

[Laughs], that’s cool! Makes us excited to hear it in a future song! But it sounds like you are getting back into the swing of things, and are ready to just start giving people music again. 

I was inactive, but I knew a part of me was still having presence and I would normally check what my play counts were on SoundCloud. Seriously like who is playing these songs??

That’s the great thing about the industry in this day and age. You get to just put music out there and leave it for chance or opportunity for the right person or people to hear it. 

Yeah man, and I had other songs that I was debating putting up, but it would’ve just looked like a joke. Almost like a half-assed demo [laughs]. I didn’t want to put things out that I wasn’t comfortable with. I would send some of the songs to other people and they would ask me when I planned on dropping them, and I never did. 

Anything else you like to leave us with? 

When was the first indicator in your life, that made you realize music could be it?

Wow, it was probably -- I want to say back in the fifth grade was when I first started singing in choirs and stuff. I don’t think I knew that it was something I had wanted to do for a living then, but I knew it was something that made me happy. I knew that just hearing the music and the songs, was something that I gravitated to. I was a kid, I didn’t even know what was going on inside of me, but it felt good to hear the music and feel how it made me feel. So I‘d have to say that it was grade school that really made me feel music.

When you were singing in these choirs at school, was it something you willingly enjoyed at first, or was it something that you did as an obligation in school to later find out that you loved it?

Yeah basically the latter. I was doing it in school because it was a part of the curriculum and as the years went by, I just kept signing up for those same classes and did it all the way through high school. It simultaneously had me writing poems too. There was a class project and I had a teacher who had asked us to write a poem about life, and I wrote about a page and a half that actually sounded like a rap song. From top to bottom it rhymed like an entire rap, and I remember it so vividly because I had gotten an A+ on it -[laughs]. I probably didn’t realize that it was supposed to be a quick assignment as we were in class, but I wrote it off the top of my head. It was from that moment that I really started writing poems. For a 14 year old it was cool, because I had just made this up on the spot, it rhymed and people liked it.

You also participated or competed in various talent shows growing up, what were those like for you?

I think I was like 16 or 17 when I did my first talent show, and being honest with you I was terribly petrified [laughs]. I don’t even think I moved -- which is funny because when i see it nowadays it’s just funny how everybody kind of goes through same journey doing this music thing. But yes, my first show I picked a spot on the stage and I did not move for my life. I made it through the song and didn’t do too bad.

Who eventually became some of your musical influences as you began to have more interest in music, outside of poetry?

It’s funny because at that age, a lot of my influences were Hip-Hop artists and there might have been a few singers like Michael Jackson and Earth, Wind, & Fire, who everybody liked back then. As far as the guys that I was looking up to though, among them were artists like EPMD, Run DMC, Big Daddy Kane, many of these artists were in my dad's album collection if you can believe that ...and it was weird actually because I liked singing, not necessarily rapping. I was influenced a lot, by...I guess the lifestyle and just the bravado of Hip-Hop stars.

Just thinking about Big Daddy Kane, an artist who was slick with his delivery and the women were all over him [laughs], so that was enticing to a 14 year old. Even with EPMD it was the music -- just feeling it. When you’re a musician and I’m sure you know, but you really feel the music. I think that’s how a lot of songwriters who make music do it. It’s like music meets you and moves you and you create words you know? That’s how I do a lot of my songwriting.

So when did you start transitioning into songwriting and moving away from poetry? Did you look at the two styles similarly in approach?

Probably later in high school when I started getting more into girls [laughs]. I was realizing that girls had liked my poems and all that mushy stuff and I was like “I sing and do music too”. I started writing more because back then you could write [love] letters, there wasn’t any texting and it was all about a piece of paper and pen or pencil. Even as a young kid and being influenced by music, man I could write my ass off and that would help me write a killer love letter and write just what “she” wanted to hear [laughs]. It all started as poems and I turned them into songs later on.

That’s interesting and this is something that I’ve asked a few artists in the past, but some people link poetry and songwriting together in many ways; how do you as an artist transition poetry into a song format, and do you believe it’s an effective approach to songwriting?

Really what gave me the ability to transition between the two art forms, was getting more serious about music and songs while really learning about how they were all structured. Like I said, at 14 or 15 I probably couldn't have told you what a break or a bridge was, but I hear stories about how a lot of rappers do the same thing too. They would just freestyle and never stop. Some didn’t know about a 16 bars format. It’s the same thing with singing and music, it’s all the same as loving R&B.

Once I had learned about the music and had read up on it, I realized that as a poet you can just take your ideas apply them to the way a song is structured, you know like 8 bars/16 bars structure with a chorus, bridge or whatever and you’re good. It’s almost like a template where you take your words and place them there and just arrange it. You can arrange certain words were you see fit, like maybe “this” doesn’t work as a chorus, but it could be like a prev amp to the chorus. Or maybe this part that’s a hook, might serve better as a rearranged verse. It’s all just learning about songs their structure and music. I’m trying to master it myself, and master what I’m doing so that I can be a trendsetter as a writer.

What was it like to be an active member in both an R&B and a Gospel group?

That was something that I always cherished, only because I loved being around other people that like doing what I like to do. Now, the only problem with groups and I’m sure a lot of other groups would agree is that there’s a lot of personalities and everyone is not going to have the same hunger as you. That’s one of the biggest problems with being in a group. I mean, you might want to take an opportunity to do a show and be obligated to do it, but one of the other guys may be like “you know I don’t feel like doing it” or “I don’t really feel like it, I have other things to do”. There is always that problem with groups with everyone being on the same page.

However, when everyone is on the same page, forget it, there is nothing better than that brotherhood and camaraderie while all doing the same thing that you love to do. When you are all good at it too, there is nothing better than that.

Being involved with the gospel group was great as well. That’s where I really learned about stage presence and being comfortable. There was still that issue of having everybody on the same page, but I did take everything I need to take out of that group, lesson wise. Again, it was getting up on that stage, to as little as how to hold a mic, where to walk on stage at what time, how to react to the crowd and how to evoke emotion from the crowd. I learned all of that from being in that group and that was for two years that I spent with them.

So would you do another group again?

I think I would venture to do another group, but I would really love for everyone to be on the same page. When I look at groups like TGT (Tyrese, Ginuwine, and Tank), I’m like “damn I’m jealous!” I say that because I know for a fact that somewhere, I know at least two other guys who probably love music just as much as I do and we can form a group. But you know everyone is always busy doing their own thing, as they should. It ends up being hard for a group to stay together these days.

But, I do love being a solo artist and it allows me to work on me and keep growing. If I do get an opportunity like a TGT I’ll be ready for it, you know? I don’t know if I’d be Tyrese or Tank though [laughs].

So let’s fast forward a bit. What was it like to finally release recorded music, more specifically your first album?

It was really exciting, even though it was my first album and it didn’t really do as well as I wanted it to. I can admit now that I was kind of green about it back then, but when I was creating and releasing it, I was on top of the world. I was actually putting songs together and having a CD to put out for the first time.

I was excited and remember being like “I hope they like it”. It was just a breath of fresh air when I realized I was about to become a legit R&B artist and my album was about to hit the streets. It was pretty cool.

How do you feel like you’ve grown from when you released your album, to putting together your latest album Swagg Soul?

From when that 1st album came out, I had had a long break in between and the only thing that changed was that I experienced life. I had just lived and experienced more and had more to talk about. On top of that I was working on my vocals, and working on myself, physical and mental, while just getting better as an artist. Having lived more life I had more serious things to say as opposed to partying and “hey girl can I get your number?” [Laughs]. But it definitely showed my growth and there is always more growing to do.

How would you describe your music, or at least your approach?

Uh, I tell people that my way of R&B and music is not dirty nor vulgar, but that I’m just speaking on my life and life in general without the vulgarity in it. It’s so that later I can talk about “Thank god for where he brought me from.” Although it’s an R&B song, I can still thank him for what he has done for me and I wouldn’t call it Gospel, but just a thank you from me to god. If anybody would have a question about that, I would be able to tell them. That’s why my music is light. It’s clean and not vulgar and makes space for songs like “My Party” “Wifey” and “All Time High” --which is like a Gospel song, but has a double meaning. In that song, I’m talking about the man upstairs and the evil that’s out there like drugs.

But overall I like my music to sound like real R&B soul music. I love harmonies and there were singing groups from back in the day like Guy, Mint Condition that you know have some really tight harmonies, great singing, and the music can do something to you by itself. That just does it for me, because with no words, the music can already take you somewhere before the words even start.

Talk about what it’s like performing, especially since you had recalled being nervous the very first time you performed in high school.

Uh, it’s funny because one person who I haven’t mentioned yet which is R. Kelly. There’s also lot of R. Kelly, Eric Benet, Musiq Soulchild, Tyrese, and Stokely live performances that I watch before I have a show. I watch him and other singers and I don’t really know what I’m watching or looking for, because I don’t want to copy, but I think when I look at artists I just want to see how they handle themselves on stage and what they do and how the crowd reacts to it.

Before I get on for a show, I always check out YouTube concert footage real quick just to see what I can take away from it. I also check out some of the notes these guys are hitting [laughs].

Who else inspires your stage performance then, vocally speaking?

I sometimes try to see what Musiq Soulchild comes up with because he’s so stupid with the notes and I never would of thought of hitting such a note until hearing it from him. And what I love about artists like that because mistake or not they are going to lay it out there [on stage]. But the whole thing is that you’re singing from your heart and you're letting it out, you know what I mean? At the same time anything can happen live and it’s not like you can hide behind the booth or the microphone or ask to re-do something. I like that when I get on stage I feel like I’ve practiced so much that I know what I’m going to do with confidence and ease.

But what I haven’t mastered yet, is how I move forward after making a mistake or not hitting the note I want to hit. Sometimes even if I hit half of the half of the note that I’m trying to hit [laughs], I’m still depressed about it the next day. I’m trying to get over that at the moment.

So what can you tell us about some of the stuff you are currently working on?

Well right now, I do have a few songs I’ve been writing to. I’m not sure when I’ll be recording them yet because I’m still doing shows with the Swagg Soul album and touring a bit. I’m still traveling around and pushing this album at the moment. I do have new stuff that I am creating though.

But actually, I do have a big surprise that I’m not even sure that I can share [laughs], but since you guys are I.AM.Unsigned, but I’m trying to get some partnership stuff going on with Kurtis Blow right now through my management. My management is with SMG Talent right now with Teke Staley and we are just trying to make big things happen. I mean reality shows, movies, comedy stuff, you know. But it’s like waiting for all of the paperwork and getting that final yes is what’s going on at the moment [laughs]. But definitely trying to get this Curtis Blow thing going, so keep your fingers crossed for me. I’m ready for whatever is about to happen.

I just want to give another shout out Teke Staley who has been more than just instrumental to all that is about to happen right now. I’m saying this now because she is responsible for all that’s about to come up. I’d be remiss if I didn’t give her her props.  

is there anything else you’d like to share with us?

Yeah, I just want to thank everyone that has been supporting me, I really appreciate it. Definitely want to thank Milyssa Rose, one of the other awesome artists on this roster, for referring me to you guys. Also want to shout out Hennessy Williams, one of my good friends who actually introduced me to Teke Staley. He’s actually the one who told me to get in touch with her because she works and gets things done. Just want to thank everyone again for supporting the movement, especially my mother and father Victor and Joyce Jones, as well as other family and close friends;  Mark Squared studios, ALL of Texas (especially Temple, Dallas, San Antonio, Houston!), Augusta, GA (stand up!) and all of my supporters there. Also want to thank North Carolina (especially Greensboro & Raleigh), and of course my backbone, my right-hand WO-man Tressa Jones! 

What was your first rapping/music experience like? 

Well, I was kind of young when I had my first rapping experience, you know? I was just always freestyling to myself here and there. After a while I started writing and in Junior High school I tried to form a group with my homeboys, and we did some demo tapes at the time. 

Who were some of your influences at the time that inspired you to start rapping? 

Well, I used to look up to Run DMC and LL Cool J a lot. Growing up in East Elmhurst at the time, I was around a lot of rappers that I used to see all the time. I would see Kool G & Polo, Sweet T, Kwame, you know, rappers like that. I’m actually seeing these dudes on TV, then seeing them around the neighborhood and its a big inspiration to me. 

So when did you begin to take music seriously, outside of looking to create these groups and record demos for leisure? 

I would have to say it was like when I was in Florida. I had a group called Third Degree and we were really trying to make things happen when I was out there. DJ Prostyle used to actually be my DJ, before he became “Prostyle”. He lived in our neighborhood in Florida and we used to go to his crib to record tracks and get things moving from there. 

After that, I had moved to New York we all had kind of lost contact, so that was the end of that. I had later met some dudes from from the projects that I was living in and we had a nice little organization going on, doing shows and stuff like that. 

So it wasn’t too hard having to readjust in a different environment, after creating something in Florida?

Nah, the only difference was that in New York you really had to show your raps skills, nobody was just accepting anything, you really had to come hard with your raps for people to appreciate you. I was coming from Florida and people were expecting me to have a Florida type flow or something like that, but I was a writer and I always wrote my own joints. [Writing] is what people knew me for and they started appreciating me as [a writer], as my name started to get around a bit.

When did you really begin to record your own music, if you haven’t already? 

I actually have never really put out a project on my own, but I’ve been in the studio making joints with other people. I had this homeboy who had this corporation called Next Mill Entertainment and he was trying to push us forward a lot. He actually had us in nice studios and recording with high quality equipment. 

Was being more group oriented, in terms of making music, helpful for you or something you preferred, as opposed to being a solo artist? 

Yeah definitely, I loved doing music as a group. I enjoyed making music by myself, but I rather be with a group of people with the same mindset. 

I’d assume then that it was this mindset that led you to working with the Power Circle, or at least meeting the guys? 

I had already knew about the Power Circle, but didn’t know anyone personally expect for GreyCloud and Ciph (Roundz). They were real close friends of mine. Through them I used to hear about the Power Circle and its movement, but didn’t really get too involved because I didn’t fully know what it was about. I knew that it was a movement, because listening to their music, I found what I was looking for. I would always say that Hip-Hop needed this balance because there’s no balance out there. Once I started listening to the Power Cirlcle, I was like “wow this is the balance I was looking for”. 

I had always appreciated their movement, but I really got involved with them through my cousin at Kix Mag who wanted to to a Cypher and he told me to check out the dudes from Power Circle. He had been a fan of theirs for a while and had wanted to do something with them for his magazine. From there I started talking to OneSun and the rest of the guys, and that’s how we started the Kix Mag Cypher. Once I started getting to know everyone individually, we started moving forward from there. 

Can you tell us about anything you may be working on now? What are you doing musically at the moment (solo or collaborations)? 

Riht now I’m working on a mixtape with OneSun and it should be coming out around March. I’m definitely back in the studio and just did about three joints and I;m about to lay some more down. I’m just trying to bring back that old Hip-Hop feel man. This mixtape is called Back to the Basics, and I’m basically taking it back to the real format of Hip-Hop and how it used to sound, you know what I’m saying? 

Since you mention the older format of Hip-Hop, what are your thoughts about the current state of Hip-Hop and artists in the industry? 

Hip-Hop to me right now might be in a sad state, you can play a lot of party music and all that, but Hip-Hop is a culture and a means to express yourself through music. For me, I feel like people aren’t expressing themselves and are just going off of what the last person said. If there was more music with reason behind it, it wouldn’t look like Hip-Hop is in a sad state right now. There isn’t too much that inspirational to the kids and everything is negative. Hip-Hop was never like that, there was always this balance of positivity & negativity. . 

Do you think that you and OneSun or whoever else, would be able to help fill that void or contribute to the balance of Hip-Hop? 

Yeah definitely, because that’s the type of music they make [OneSun/ The Power Circle], you know what I’m saying? I appreciate the music they make and there are other artists out there that make great music that isn’t heard yet either. Once you keep putting a certain type of energy out there, people will start to gravitate towards it. The emcees that are doing it will hopefully get heard and if it’s pushed the correct way, more people will hear it. 

When did you teach yourself how to write then, or how to at least write songs? 

I definitely had to teach myself how to [write songs], but with writing in general it came natural to me and I always used to read Dictionaries and different little books. The stuff that I used to read in my books and magazines, I would write them out, highlight them or jot stuff down on a piece of paper and then just formulate a rhyme out of it. I always used to try and challenge myself with my writing technique and I had loved it, so it was never really a problem for me. Ever since I could remember I was always writing something down. I had ended up just writing so much that my scraps became a journal, but a journal for my raps. 

Where do you see your self within the next few years, especially after taking a break from music for bit? 

Yeah I had taken a little break from the music and was trying to be more behind the scenes with everything I was starting to do. I was trying to create my own video team for music videos and try to push Kix Mag on the U.S. side a little further. I’ll be doing that and pushing this mixtape [Back to The Basics]. 

So tell us a little bit about yourself. Have you always had an affinity for Rock music and live performance shows? 

I have been going to live shows ever since I could remember. I grew up in Des Moines, Iowa so there was not much to do. My dad is extremely musical and passed the gene down to me. I remember being in my early teens and my dad dropping me off at shows that were way out of my league like hometown Slipknot shows and Cannibal Corpse. I had no clue what I was doing, but I knew I loved it. My dad loved the fact that I took an interest in music but hated the music I listened to (he's a jazz fan) but regardless, he would drop me off at those shows every single night... as long as my homework was done of course!

When did you start "Girl at the Rock Shows" and what made you want to document your experiences? 

I started Girl at the Rock Shows earlier this year. I have a day job that has nothing to do with music and tend to come in everyday telling everyone about the show I was at the night before. As much as they are supportive and think it's awesome, they honestly don't care. Zach, one of my co-workers told me to just start a blog because of all the things I get to see and frankly, I thought it was an awesome idea. I see more bands in a year than most people do in a lifetime and tend to have some funny and unexpected experiences. I also think that the rock/metal scene is missing a writer like me. 

I hate to play the gender card but recently I've seen a lot of articles on sites like Spin and Alt Press about how women aren't safe at some shows. I thought that maybe if I started writing about my experiences, more females would feel comfortable going to metal shows (or any show) alone. Furthermore, let's be honest, majority of the music writers in papers are old white guys. I mean come on, can they even relate? They just write about the music. Yeah, the music is fine but a concert is all about the experience. Wouldn't you rather read about that? About all the kids that got bones broken or then singer that was too drunk to play any of his songs so he just kept covering Morrisey songs (that was my Friday night). Doesn't that seem like more fun?

Did GATRS start off as a hobby that eventually became this incredibly addictive personality of its own? 

It definitely started as a hobby and still is. I did get hired by a bigger blog weheartmusic which has taken me to many different shows that I would not typically go to. But other than that, this is just one big hobby that has gotten completely out of control (but in the best way possible).

Do the shows you attend vary in both crowd size, popularity of bands and location? 

The shows I go to are all over the place as far as size, popularity and genre. As far as location... I have my places. I'm a regular at First Ave, 7th Street, Entry, The Varsity, Amsterdam and Triple Rock. Those are my favorite places to go just because I feel so at home and safe.

Have you received any coverage inquiries that you would personally consider a HUGE deal?! 

Now don't get me wrong, I'm happy that people just read this blog. I have been a little shocked by some of the people that have retweeted my blog or personally e-mailed me about how they enjoyed what I wrote. I literally threw up when Atmosphere re-tweeted my blog. I started crying when Four Year Strong retweeted the blog I wrote about their show. I thought I was going to die when Damian Marley (Bob Marley's son) retweeted my blog and then e-mailed me telling me I have a lifetime pass to any of his shows as long as I write about them. I'm pretty sure my heart skipped a beat when B. Dolan asked if I would review his new album because he liked my writing style. Okay, so those things may not be the biggest ever but for someone who decided to just start writing about their life spent at concerts.... that's pretty damn cool.

Have you ever been to invited to cover a big performance by a more established band? If not, what band(s) would be beyond your wildest dreams to exclusively cover? 

I have covered some pretty big shows because of the blog (weheartmusic) that hired me but I don't ever want to exclusively cover a band. I kind of like nobody (other than friends) knowing who I am. I try to keep a low profile. I want to talk to band members while they are real... not trying to impress me because I'm a writer. Also, I don't want pressure to write an awesome review of a show I didn't like just because the band hired me. I want to be able to say what I want to say... good or bad.

You try to attend shows almost every day of your life, how are you balancing both your regular work schedules and the exciting life of an avid concert-goer? 

Oh man, I am supposed to find a balance in all of this?! Honestly, my life is insane. Not only do I do the concerts almost every night... I have a day job at a fastener supply company and I own a booking company that books tours across the country. I am fortunate enough to have a day job that allows me do to my thing in the down time that I have but honestly, coffee, that is all... just coffee. This concert going has affected my life in the sense that I am constantly exhausted just from being out until 2AM and then waking up by 5:30AM to do it all over again. It also makes it super tough to have relationships (either with a boyfriend or even friends). I am definitely lucky that I have my core group of friends that understand what I'm doing and when I get a plus one to a show, they are right there with me. Shout out to my wonderful roommate for taking care of my cats while I'm on my benders too!

 The way you go about covering and rating these performances is very creative, relatable and actually hilarious! For example "Sausage Fest Meter, Crowd Surfers, Stage Divers, and Broken Bones". Are all of these indicative of the palpable rock culture?  

Like I said, I would rather read about this kind of stuff. I don't care what the set list was because I wasn't there. What do I get out of reading about some songs I didn't get to hear live? I would rather read about the experience someone had there not just the music. If I wanted to just hear music, I would sit at home and listen to a CD... it's not the same. You immerse yourself in a concert. You breathe in a concert, you live in a concert... it's an experience. That's why I have those because I think those are aspects of that make a concert a concert. I'm always looking for new ones too so if anyone has any ideas for more stats... I'm always open for ideas!

What is it about live performances that get you to scratch your "itch" as you call it? 

The feeling a live show gives me is not something I can put into words. My life isn't perfect, hell, no one's is... but when you're at a show, you leave that at the door. You walk in, immerse yourself in music and like-minded people and everything is okay for those few hours. It's my therapy and lord knows I need it.

 Out of all of the talent you've seen as of late, who are some of the bands that you would suggest checking out? 

I just saw All Them Witches on Saturday...definitely not what I typically listen to but they completely blew me away with their southern-psychedelic rock sound. Keep your eyes on my boys in By The Thousands... they are a metal band from the Twin Cities that is taking this country by storm. They may be my friends, but they are also damn good musicians. 

What's the next show we can plan on reading about? 

Oh come on! You're going to make me tell you? I honestly don't know, there are a few local shows coming up that I might hit up but with Minnesota winter weather, you just never know.

Do you have any big goals for the future of GATRS? 

No big goals right now. Honestly, this blog has already become much bigger than I thought it would. I'm a go with the flow type of gal... that's how I plan on handling this blog. Getting published would be awesome but I am unwilling to negotiate my writing style, language, or my opinions in order to get them published so I don't know how realistic that goal is. Any last thoughts you’d like to leave us with?

How did your pursuit of music as a career begin?

Well when I started to pursue it, I was actually young and my cousin put me on to music. As little kid I was always a lover music. My mom used to play Spanish music, and I used to go crazy for it in the house. I mean I was a little knucklehead at like 7 or 8 years old, just going crazy with any music that was put on. I didn’t even really understand it, but would perform to music [laughs]. My mom used to play a lot of romantic music like Selena or some Bachata and I think that’s where I started getting like my tone or catchiness of music from. I would even go to bed and just play music in my head...and there wasn’t anything even playing [laughs]. Basically that led into me loving my own music.

First I also started listening to Reggaeton heavy when I was young, because I was more a bi-lingual kid growing up. I’m Dominican too, and I grew up basically listening to that. My cousin actually put me on to the English [American] stuff and put me on to Wu-Tang. That was the first time I had ever be introduced to music like that. I just fell in love with Hip-Hop from there, and after two years of listening to it, I felt like I could do it myself. At first I didn’t even start writing raps, it was more of a poetic thing, especially with school because my favorite subject was Reading & Language Arts and all that. That’s how I got into it. I used to write little poems here and there and just express myself like that. It wasn’t really even a music thing, but me expressing my self at the beginning.

So after being introduced to the genre, what other artists did you start listening to?

At that moment, I was crazy on Biggie Smalls, Uh Nas definitely was one of my favorites. Later on was DMX, Onyx, and who else? Oh Eminem was crazy, definitely sparked something. All of the members of Wu-Tang, everybody man, because back then the underground was basically the mainstream. I was crazy with that man, that was the first love. OH! I missed the most important artist man, Big Pun! Once I heard Pun, it just solidified everything and I was like “you I can do this too”. I felt like I could make it here.

When did you start to actually make music then, after already starting with poetry as your foundation?

I started really composing music when I was like about 13. I had my own little keyboard and was making my own little beats off of a Casio keyboard and I had my own little Karaoke machine because at that time I couldn’t really afford any studio time. I would be there with my boys in my room making music and putting things together. It all actually sounded really good [laughs]. There’s actually people still out here who’ve got my tapes since back then and i don't even remember the s***, you feel me?

What was it like to then actually piece all of that music together?

I was actually pretty confident in all of it and I felt like I had something that the world should here, but at that time I was very underground  and into the dictionary and pulling our words because I was bi-lingual and had to figure that out. I used want to be mad lyrical like Canibus and them and I would really try and stay up to date with that. I used to be heavy on the dictionary back then, with me and my boy. Back then I always had Colligus, but one of my boys used to go by Hazardous when we were young. That’s basically where we were at.

Growing up what was the music scene like in New Jersey, or specifically Perth Amboy, NJ?

Ahh, well growing up in Perth Amboy, from the late 90s to the early 2000s every corner there were people break dancing. There would be people with their boomboxes outside, everybody had a boombox walking around. It was crazy the hip-hop scene here. People were freestyling all over the place -- it was a beautiful place for Perth Amboy man.

There were actually a lot of local groups that were coming up then as well. They always kept me loving Hip-Hop.

What made you choose that name then, Colligus? Did it mean anything specific to you, in terms of being representative of your music?

Uh, Colligus? Basically it was the world collision. But I didn’t want to use the actual word collision, like colliding, so I just put the “g u s” at the end and made it like an actual name.

At this time, everybody had their own crazy name, so I wanted to come up with my own little unique name and I felt like it was unique to me. It was mad original and you don’t hear that anywhere. Til this day people have never heard of the name and are like “wow I really like that name”. So It’s dope. I had actually put an acronym to it myself, “Creative Outstanding Lyrical L Intellectual Giant, Understand my Science”. So as time went on with it, I kept that acronym going.

By 2005 you had released your first project and was ready to start sharing your music. What was that like?

Yeah, I had a CD and it was like 7 songs with a couple of my boys. It was me, Logic and Legacy. But it was us three that put this together and we would make songs and it came out pretty hot, a lot of people liked it. They liked the music we were putting out and it was really catchy. I remember the first song that I did in the studio and it was like ‘n**** I’m living life on the edge/ 24/7 drugs in my car, pass me the bread”. It was more like hard and when it came out people liked it and it was over a Mobb Deep beat. We just kept going with it for a while.

At that moment I was making music and writing, but I had my own life issues that I couldn’t maneuver my way around making music. It was hard for me at the moment to really make music, you know I had kids, problems with my baby momma, problems with the law. I couldn’t really do much.

Well when all of that subsided, were you still able to come back and get in the flow of creating again? Or was something that actually became a hindrance?

Nah, when i came out I tried to do music, but you know I got caught up in the life of the streets. I was more involved with doing s*** in the streets than actually making music. Like I started young, but I never really got into doing a whole bunch of songs in the studio because of that. I was hard for me to do it. But now since like 2010 or 2011, I’ve been going hard with the music.

I’ve got a lot of s*** that people haven’t heard that’s in the stash right now. I had the album “Road to Success” and right now I’m working on this Spanish project -- I don’t have a name for it yet, but I kinda changed my name to El Barboa. You know how there’s “Balboa”? Well instead of that is “Barboa” like “Bars”. It’s kind of catchy with the Spanish people and there’s this movement that’s crazy right now in New York. We’re just trying to follow that up here in Jersey. So far we’ve been making nothing but hits and I’m not saying that because I did it, that just what people tell me. People that I know, who know me personally are always like “oh I know you do English, but I think you should do something in Spanish because you’ve got that voice that can stand out in Spanish too”. I took heed and I did it and it’s what I’m doing now. Even though I’m doing Spanish, I’m still writing stuff in English, because I have an album coming out too in English. There’s “Road to Success” and then another one called “Skys The Limit”, because the first album was more raw and me paying tribute to the 90s era of Hip-Hop, like the Golden Era. Now this new album is going to be like what’s going on now and up to date. I felt like I had to do that you know what I mean? That first album was for me, and now the second album is for the people, so they can see where I’m really at.

Before you were talking about how there seems to be this Latino movement, can you talk about what it’s like to possibly be a contributor to this movement and explain what exactly you’re seeing that’s recently inspired you to make music for the people.

I ain’t gonna lie, I felt like alone with my music out here, in terms of everybody and my friends. Like say if it was you and you do a certain type of music that suits you because you’re comfortable and you like your music, but then you face the facts that people that you chill around with really don’t listen to that type of music. To them it feels like it’s in the past. So I was like “you know what? I want to do this music, this new wave”, but I never did it because I was so stuck on being real the to culture of Hip-Hop and what it was back in the day. You know? I wanted to be stuck in that era, but my heart was telling me to try how this works out. Everybody loves it man. What inspires me is my friends and the people in my environment. I feel like I’m getting a lot of love with the Spanish too man.

I get more support now from people that I work with, engineers that I didn’t get support back from before. They’re like happy to see that there’s like a growth. I ain’t gonna like, a lot of people from the old school feel like this new music is not up to par with what the old was, but I see it differently. It kind of elevated and got better...at least to me.

Well expand on that if you can. I know that a huge topic of discussion, pretty much 24/7 when it comes to the current climate of Hip-Hop.

Now I think there are a lot more categories being represented in Hip-Hop. Before or [at the beginning], there was this hard Hip-Hop and conscious Hip-Hop, these two things. Now you got the party, club Hip-Hop, the pop a molly Hip-Hop, you want to go to the strip club and throw money and women Hip-Hop, you’ve got the J.Cole Hip-Hop and like the Kendrick Hip-Hop. There’s mad different things. You got Joey Bada$$ and Action Bronson -- everything’s just different now.

I feel like it advanced if anything. Even though hardcore Hip-Hop fans feel like it hasn’t, I feel like it has. To me, back in the in day I feel like it was more about you spittin’ words. Now I feel like you’ve kind of got to put your heart and sole into it and come out with something that’s mad catchy. Not everybody can do that. Now I’ts more about making a song, for real, for real. I think it evolved man.  

What are you most looking forward to accomplishing with your music, some time in the future?

Well right now, what I want to accomplish is finishing off my other Spanish album right now and then get on my English too. I’m already 6 songs deep in both, but the Spanish one I’m doing with my boy Leggs who’s pretty nice. I’m doing one with him and then there’s a Spanish one, and what I want to do do this year is put that album together. I’ve got people listening from the Dominican Republic and they the finished product. So once the finished product is done, I’m gonna send it out there, but what I really want to do is go out there myself around September. I want to promote it out there. It’s easy to go to the Dominican Republic and do that, you know? It doesn’t take a lot of money. But with my Spanish music, I want to do that and go out there -- I can do that s*** with like 4000$ and come back with everyone already knowing my music out there. Like going to every radio station and do that -- that’s what I want to do with the Spanish. My mission though is to finish this album and then go to the Dominican Republic by September of next year and promote it and put it in radio stations and peoples hands. 

I’m gonna keep doing music though, my English music, because it’s my first love and keep doing it to the best of my ability. I also think I’m pretty nice and on point with it. So Imma keep doing it because if I quit now, I’ve already seen how far I can come and I’m not stopping. 

What was it like to meet and work with some of the guys in Meta4nation? I’m sure it was a cool connection to have with a supportive group of artists. 

Yeah, Meta4nation was amazing man, they support to the fullest and are mad real hip-hop to the essence. I love those dudes, but we aren’t in contact as much now because things happen within groups that’s out of our hands. I feel like why keep doing this when I could do my own thing. No disrespect towards no one at all because everybody in Meta4nation is amazing -- they all have their swag and style. Debut, he has his own style and has been nice since way back in the day. I’ve been listening to Meta4 since like ‘96, when I was a little boy and didn’t even know who these guys were [laughs]. I used to have the yellow Sony radio with the grey speakers and be all over Perth Amboy, NJ going up and down with the Met4nations tapes and I didn’t even know who they was til like three years ago. They really got their name out man. Definitely if I see them I’ll always show love. 

If I were to ask you who Colligus is as an artist/rapper, what would you say? 

I’m a very humble dude who doesn’t like looking for problems and 90% of the time I’m always thinking, thinking of new ideas about how to make music. I’m very passionate about my music, but I’m also perfectionist when it comes to my music. The studio used to be hard for me, but now I’m in there like 1, 2, 3. Ultimately I just want to be able to have my music touch and reach people. 

IAU: So, what was the earliest indication in which you realized music was something you wanted to pursue?

It was probably sitting on my father’s lap and him teaching me how to play chords by ear. It wasn’t until I turned 13 though, when I realized that music was something I really wanted to do.

And seeing as how your father was a reverend at your home church, did you also sing in choirs growing up as well?

I did, I sang in the choir - my mother was actually a part of the choir, but I ended up having a knack for hearing the music and anticipating the progression of the music before it even happened. I could mimic and match the Choir director without actually knowing the song or the music. I just knew where [the music] was going to go.

I was in the choir for probably the majority of my life when I was a kid, because my father was a reverend. But like I said, I didn't decide I was going to take music seriously until I was about 13 years old maybe.

That’s pretty young! So who were some of the artists you were listening to or were exposed to at that time?

Man, there’s so many of them [laughs]. My dad introduced me to people like Ray Charles, James Brown, uhh and my mom introduced me to people like Michael Jackson, Prince, and Aretha Franklin and stuff like that. As I was starting to get older, I began to branch out, listening to other artists and producers. We had music always playing though.

By the time you were 17, you had already been self-taught in a variety of music related talents, from songwriting, producing and engineering your own sound. Can you talk about some of the steps you took to get to that point?

Well I had started listening to producers like Babyface and studying how they were able to create music the way that they did. Let’s see, yeah it was people like Babyface, Quincy Jones - I had been a huge fan of Michael Jackson and I absolutely loved him as an entertainer. I ended up finding out about how he created his sound, and what made him tick. What I did not realize, was that he was not producing all of his material himself. I always thought that he produced everything himself. That’s what made me want to produce everything myself. I really thought that it was cool that I was doing that, after finding out that [MJ] wasn’t producing. I just stuck with it man and later got the opportunity to meet Willie Mitchell, Al Green’s producer. He wound up mentoring me as well.

Let’s jump right into that then, what was that experience like, working with someone like Willie Mitchell, who has had such a memorable impact on the industry?

It was surreal man, it was surreal. I mean, to walk into a studio and meet such a legendary person and an amazing fellow, it was just surreal for me. Immediately he seemed to have taken a liking to me and started calling me his “son” and I started calling him “pops” [laughs]. He had told this guy that came in to the studio one time that he thought that I was like a mixture of Michael Jackson and Prince, in terms of my sound and my stage performance. I think it was pretty cool and was a blessing for him to take the time and mentor me like that.

Throughout the amount of years you guys had worked together under his mentorship, did he give you any advice that has stuck with you?

[Laughs] he told me to “Shut up and sing” [continued laughter]. I was sitting at the piano with him one time, and we were just going over some chord progressions and so I guess I was thinking too hard about the song. I remember being like “Pop, I don’t know what kind of melody I want for this song”, and he just looked at me and said “just shut up and sing.” I think that was pretty cool [laughs].

So how long was the time period at which you had parted ways with Mr. Mitchell and released your first album?

I think it was maybe 3 and a half years that I was around Pops [Willie Mitchell] and then after that I had went ahead and branched out and gotten my own studio and began working on my first album.

What was the anticipation like for the release of “Legendary”? You’d had a very influential mentor that many people don’t have access to. Were you nervous, scared, or excited about finally releasing it?

I was really excited man, I really was. I knew I had the opportunity to do something that was really different and special, being that I was able to produce and engineer the whole album myself. I was aware that it was just exciting to me, but it was hard! It was hard man and at the time my father was sick and passing away and I was dealing with a lot at the time. I was battling all of that, money issues, all kinds of stuff. I asked myself “How was I going to get all of the needed equipment? How was I going to do all of that?” But I wouldn’t take any of it away man. I feel like that’s what makes you who you are.

Was there any deeper meaning behind you naming the album “Legendary”?

Absolutely! My father before he passed away told that he wanted me to go and be the star that he saw and that he believed I could be. He said that no matter what happens, I had to at least finish it, he didn’t want me to give up. He had specifically said “with whatever you want to be in life, you have to work hard, you have to speak it into existence”, so that’s why I named it “Legendary”.

Did you essentially create the music behind this meaning, and the music you currently make, as a basis of representation? Or, did the meaning and the title come after the music?

Uh, I think the title of the album came a little later after I started working on the some of the songs. But I was completely adamant about doing one of the songs on my album called “Friends”. It was a song that I had wrote and dedicated to Willie Mitchell, my father, my friends and my grandmother who had all passed away. I dedicated it to them and the song was at the end of the album.

That’s really great, and it sounds like the song also meant just as much to you as these people in your lives did too. You seem to make music in accord with the people in your immediate surroundings and those experiences. With that said, where does your love of giving back to youth stem from?

Mostly everything stems back to my father being a reverend because I have a really strong faith in god. I also obviously had the great opportunity of being mentored by Willie Mitchell; so all of those things in turn kind of made me want to give back as well and mentor youth  the way I was mentored. That’s really why I got started in charity work and giving back to the community.

I was blessed enough to meet a young man who was the CEO of this organization and we formed a really cool partnership and relationship together where we loved to just give back whatever we could back to the people. Also if you don’t touch the hearts of the people, you don’t having anything.

Absolutely. I’m sure it also gave you that chance to meet some great people as well as some well-known artists. What was is like to meet and be in the same environment with artists like Leigh Bush, Justine Skye, Cymphonique and more?

It was really cool man. When you meet so many different people and different artists, we all are an eccentric bunch. It’s just really cool to be in the mix with people that have had the opportunity to get out there and make music that people love to share. That’s something that’s so great, and you can relate to them on so many different levels.

I had an opportunity to sit down and talk with Master P, and he said to me “Where I started, and where you’re starting, we have a lot in common”. He started his own company and his own label and he was doing everything himself. It’s similar with me as I was doing everything for myself musically and my situation was nearly similar. That was really cool to have that type of conversation with him.

Who are some of the artists that you are listening to today, that may keep you inspired or that you just simply enjoy?

Aww man, I really do listen to some of everybody. But as of right now and being that I am working on my new project, I’m kind of closed off a little bit. When I’m creating I want to give my fans everything, give them all of me and what’s gonna come of me - or at least what they expect of me.

So what can fans expect then, in terms of the creative process behind this second album that you are working on?

Well one, the quality is going to be better. The sound overall is going to be better on the record, because I’ve learned some new tricks and I’m prepared to show that off. But that’s the engineer side of me. Producing wise, I’ve learned some new tricks as well, so I’m really looking to touch some areas musically that have been untapped and untouched to create some different things. I possibly want to fuse some genres together. You never know.

How would you describe your style of creating songs, outside of its sound? Do you write from a personal place or are you writing for your fans?

Uh, I write music from the heart man. It’s either got to be something that I feel or something that I’ve seen someone else go through that I can relate to with  what’s going on in their life. I feel stuff man. I don’t do too much thinking about music anymore. It goes back to the “Shut up and sing” concept [laughs].

Are there any dream collaborations that you’d love to do?

Yeah, absolutely! I’d love to work with Janet man…yeah I would love to work with her. I want to do some work with Usher too. I can also see myself definitely doing something with [Lil] Wayne or Drake.

What are some of your aspirations with music?  Where do you see yourself several years from now?

I just see myself happy and making music man. When it comes to goals and business, I plan on having my own record label and Production Company. Meanwhile I just want to be happy, being in a happy place and being able to create good music. I’d love to be still kicking, breathing and making music.

And clearly still wanting to be a mentor. Hearing you say that you want to have your own label or company, holds true to the fact that you still want to be in a place of service to those who may not have the means or resources to create. That’s really cool.

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you man. I’ll never stop working with youth.

Anything else you’d like to leave us with?

IAU: Who is NATIONS and what can you tell us about yourselves?

Nik: Well NATIONS is basically…well as a group, we pride ourselves on creating different sounds – especially with the EP we just put out. We’re actually in the process of writing, well…not a record, but some singles that we can shop around. As far as our image goes, we know we have a solid image set up, and that we have a certain game plan going, and we’re doing a lot of things on our own, independently.

As far as the group goes, we’re all very skilled and knowledgeable with everything we’ve been doing over the years. Mason and I have been in bands prior, have been signed and kind of done that whole thing. Same with Manny and the rest of the band – we’ve all toured and gotten experience and love what we do. We kind of formed this elite project of NATIONS and we feel like this is a new project that’s different and is going to be the one that really pushes us forward, because we know what mistakes we’ve made in the past. There is no wrong road or wrong track to go on, and I feel like that’s the [attitude] we’re pushing with our [recent] EP release.

So, how did you all meet? I know you guys had come together under similar aspirations, but who took the first step in bringing all of you together?

Mason: Honestly, I kind of reached out to everyone because I wanted to make a super-group of musicians that I had kept my eye on, through the years and being in bands. I was just keeping my eye out and would be like ‘I want this guy’ or “I want that guy’. I always had that in the back of my mind. With my last project before NATIONS, kind of came to an end, I had taken a break but when I came back I personally reached out to Nik first. I knew Nik would be down and he’s proactive with music, so I told him I wanted to start a band and he goes ‘let’s get started!’ I had come over to his house soon after and we just started writing.

We kind of hand selected some of the best musicians in Vegas that we thought were suitable for our project, and went through a lot of try-outs and membership changes just to get the final line up. But it took a lot of time and I think we went through like 6 different vocalists to find Danny. We definitely tried to pride ourselves on our musicianship, and just were just trying to get someone on board who were great in their abilities and could do things to the best of their ability. I mean…Dylan can do a back-flip…so that’s a good reason to put him in the band, aside from playing bass, that’s about all he’s good for really [group laughter].

[Laughs] Who were some of your musical influences then? Did you all have overlapping favorites?

Mason: I think honestly, one of our main influences, if I can speak for the whole band would be Underoath, oh, Maroon 5 for our drummer Nik, who comes from the Pop side of things. We all have a lot of heavier [Rock] influences in our music, so there’s a few bands that have a lot heavier sounds that we like. Vocally, for Chad it’s like Rage Against the Machine, Linkin Park and stuff like that. I know our other singer is also into the R&B side of things as well, anything from like old school R&B to present day Justin Bieber type stuff. That’s the thing. We just try to make a fusion of everything altogether and just bring something new and fresh.

Let’s talk about the debut EP! What was the creative process like behind it, especially coming from a place of incorporating everyone’s influences?

Nik: Well what we wanted to do with the self-titled EP, was when Mason had contacted me to come over and start writing music together, we didn’t know the direction of we wanted to go. He wanted to go a little heavier because of his background, but I wanted to go more mainstream and write hits, that’s my background. The next thing you know, a couple shots of Fireball later, here you have Mason and I writing some EDM, incorporated heavier tracks and started to find a place [within aspired directions]. Like our song “Dirty Fire” was actually [featuring] my voice coming in like “do me a favor and bring that f******* back”. It was an idea we messed around with, that ended up being molded into a beautiful breakdown melody going into a very catchy chorus with Danny’s vocals. It all in its place.

As far as the rest of the songs, it is exactly what it is. Just having a couple of beers with your friends and kind of just putting together your influences all at once – I mean there are so many diverse sounds coming from each member and their backgrounds, that it all just falls into place.

I’m sure you guys are extremely excited to finally have the Nations EP out, but what has the response been like?!

Nik: The response has been really positive. Obviously I feel like a lot of our feedback is pretty local because we are out here in Vegas, and we’d get more love here than anywhere else right off the bat. It’s been a lot of great feedback mainly because we were all in huge bands back in the day, and to come back out as NATIONS with the best musicians all in one group, we almost couldn’t go wrong. A lot of our fans loved it. They liked some of the heavier parts, some of its tastefulness, and it wasn’t too brutally hardcore. There were things you could sing along and dance to for the girls, and you had heavy breakdowns that made dudes want to get up and punch someone – it was like the goal was met [laughs].

So are you all from Vegas or Nevada in general? Where did everyone originally reside if that wasn’t home to begin with?

Nik: Well I’m third generation here and I believe Mason was born and raised here. [Background conversation] Our vocalist is from California and oh, Chad our other vocalist is from California as well. Manny is from as well too, so…

I ask because I’m curious about what the music scene is like out there and how you guys are navigating that with the infamy of Las Vegas and its reputation.

Nik: It’s pretty simple actually. I’d say it was back in 2003 [or] 20004 there was a peak in the actual music scene here, with venues always being open and sold out shows. It was a different era out there then. [Las Vegas] was a hardcore music scene more than anything else at that time, and out of nowhere the EDM scene kind of came and revolutionized music and changed the way that people were running to venues, and everything kind of fell apart. There is really no music scene out here and there hasn’t been for about 5 to 6 years, in my eyes. The nightlife, the Calvin Harris’ and the nightclubs have taken over the music scene in that aspect. There are no real music or rock venues, outside from the House of Blues and another venue -- they’re barely hanging on. So as far as the music scene goes, there are no big local artists. The one thing that is actually making a dent in the scene is I think us honestly.

I’m sure that might come with a lot of pressure, no?

Nik: Uhh, there’s no pressure because there wasn’t necessarily a challenge. With all ego aside and being confident in what we do as artists, we know what we are doing. It’s not like we are kids in a garage anymore – we know when we create something great that there isn’t much competition [laughs].

So what has it been like to actually perform for some of these crowds out there then? What has the energy been like?

Mason: Well honestly I feel like if you’re a musician, playing live is the number one thing if you ask me. It’s literally the best feeling in the world and uh, honestly both shows that we’ve played have been great because we’ve headlined both. That’s kind of what we want though, whenever we play in Vegas we kind of want to always headline. We want to take our craft seriously and want to do a show right and leave it all out on the stage. I mean I feel like for our live shows we try to bring as much energy as possible and just have a blast. It’s mainly just our whole squad rolling out and it just turns to a party man – it’s always a great time [laughs]. There’s also like a 24 hour high after you play a show that slowly wears off after it happens and stuff, but it’s awesome – very chaotic too and stressful, especially when your guitar player shows up like 10 mins before the set….[group laughter]

How are you guys still able to manage your devotion and short amount of time with the band, while balancing your individual outside lives?

Nik: It’s really tough, and it’s the hardest part. We all work so much and have a lot going on.

Mason: Yeah, it’s rough man. We usually only meet once a week, so when we meet we try to get as much work done as possible. Even if it’s not work, we try to get everything together. It takes time management and takes a lot of just doing it. A lot of the stuff we do might seemed rushed or that it could be planned better, but honestly if you just wait, wait and wait to do stuff, it’s not gonna happen. That’s why we try to book stuff and just do it and commit.

We’re actually self-shooting and self-producing our own music video. We just took a whole giant step towards that and it came out kind of amazing. Manny has been really good with a lot of the video and visual stuff. He has a lot of good equipment and just put that together with our creative minds and our resources and made it happen. It just comes down to your drive and passion, and I feel like we all have that. We’re all meant to do music.

Nik: Thankfully a lot of our guys have a lot of experience playing music, so that’s not the hard part, you know what I mean? The hard part isn’t making the music because we are all musicians.

Dylan: It’s not our first Rodeo..!

If you guys were given the chance to Co-headline a major world tour, who would some of the bands that you’d want to tour with be?

Mason: I already know one that we’d all agree on [laughs]…Linkin Park, honestly, for me. They're so influential and just one of those bands that’s just been around for so long, that they’re one of the biggest bands in the world honestly. It’d be a pleasure to do share the stage with them.

 I think someone said Incubus, and I’d definitely agree with that. Nik’s over here like ‘Maroon 5, One Direction’ [group laughter]. He comes from a huge Pop background.

Nik: I love Pop music. Pop is what makes the world go round and that’s what I try to add to the band. If you can keep it up to date and keep it mainstream… you know, you gotta have someone in the band doing [laughs].

Mason: Yeah, we’d say Linkin Park, Incubus for sure, Maroon 5… [Group conversation] ohhh, Kings of Leon and Imagine Dragons! Now we’re getting somewhere... [Laughs]

Where do you guys aspire to be in your career as a group, and what do you hope your music will be doing for people in the future?

Mason: Honestly, we’d all love to tour and tour comfortably, you know? Being on a tour bus is definitely where we want to be. We’ve all toured in bands before, but it’s a rough life man. But we’d also [still] want to be self-producing and self-releasing [our music] ourselves, being sufficient as a band so that we’re worth a lot more to labels to the point where if approached by labels we can actually turn deals until we can get the right one. We’d want to do that comfortably and show our craft to millions – that’s where we want to be. However, even if we were just playing to a few thousand people, we’d still probably take it and hope that includes comfortable living you know? We could probably settle for an RV [laughs], but a tour bus is where we want to be. I know this band very well and we don’t like to settle. We always shoot for the stars.

Our music that we’re writing right now is very mainstream, we’re talking the screaming out and mainly sticking to more yells and aggressive vocals. We’re going a very mainstream direction and I think that’s what this band needs. I mean there’s cats out there that are like 18 years old, still rocking the heavy music scene and it’s dying out very quick. I see us in a very mainstream direction, touring and doing what we love. We’re a business and that’s how we run NATIONS for sure.

That’s cool! We’re excited to hear this new sound and see where this all take you guys.

IAU: So what has to be the earliest musical experience that you remember? 

Hmm, it would probably have to be this performance--I did a performance in 5th grade, for Black History Month and um, I did like a James Brown song. I had to study him for like a week....

[Laughs] What song did you sing!?

I want to say I sang “Get On Up”. But that was the first time I practiced dancing and rehearsing like that. Afterwards I was like ‘yeah, I can see myself doing this for the rest of my life’ [laughs].

What was the music like in your household growing up? 

Well my mom is from Honduras, so there’s like this very cultural and tribal sound of the Garifuna people and she would play it a lot around the house. It was like a lot of drums and chants, so I was really into that [as a kid]. 

My cousins of course got me into more Urban music when I would go over to their houses and stuff. Altogether, it sounds like the music I’m currently making. 

So who were some of the artists that influenced you and helped shape some of the sounds and music you’ve decided to make today? 

Aww man, I’d say Kanye, Kid Cudi, and Michael Jackson. Those are like the people who I really like. You know, I kind of look up to them; like these guys are dope as hell -- their messages are what really drive me, because all of their messages surround the idea of being who you are and just being great [at that]. 

Would you say that these are some of the artists you are still influenced by? Or are you currently listening to other artists that are inspiring you just as much as they did? 

Yeah, I think writing wise and vocally, James Fauntleroy for sure. Justin Vernon from Bon Iver, that guy is sick. Oh, definitely Frank [Ocean], he’s a dope guy as well. But other than that I’d also say my boy B-Star too, yeah. 

You’re clearly a music lover, so what’s one song that you’ve come across in your life that you wish you would have written yourself? And what about the song makes you wish it was yours to perform?

[laughs] aww man, alright...alright, there’s so many! 

Choose two!

Alright so one would be “Street Lights” by Kanye West and the second one would probably be...damn, what would be the second one? Yeah, that’s hard, but I think “We Are the World” [laughs].

“Street Lights” is simply because of the emotion of the song and the story behind it. It’s just a great song. “We Are the World”; having all of those artists on one song is beautiful thing. I wouldn’t mind having Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie and other artists on my song like that [laughs]. 

So lets talk about your music. Tell us what it was like to create your first project and actually put that out on SoundCloud for people to download and listen to.

Wow, uh creating my first project was fun, you know? It was in 2010 and I had just finished high school, and was very much like ‘this is what I want to do’. Since then ...well at first it was just me going to the studio and trying to see where I was at with my voice. I was also trying to have as much fun as possible, because when you’re first starting out, you don’t know what to do yet and anything is possible. The idea of just pushing and not knowing where I was going was the best and fun part of it all. 

Do you feel like you’ve grown a lot between who you were then, and the James Scott who’s about to release Forest?

Yeah, you know what’s funny, I actually listened to my old stuff probably like a few weeks ago or a month ago, and aww man it just sounds so different. I think I sent that to you guys. You can just tell that everything has changed. 

In between that time though, you had taken a bit of a break. What was it like to step away for a bit, then return with your lead song “Truth” from Forest, and see the amount of music blog circulation you received after these years? 

Yeah, I’m not gonna lie, I took some “time off” to focus on the nobodies project [R&B production collective] and was basically pushing that. But I think the last time I had recorded for Forest was September and I’m just adding new songs, extending some new ideas etc.

The love I got from “Truth” though was really interesting. I was really happy and it was cool because people clearly understood the emotion. That’s a song I can honestly say I went through those things in life on. Sometimes the people you love the most hurt you more than anyone else and that was the premise of the song. So for people to gravitate towards that and enjoy the sound made me pretty happy man. I just can’t wait to put out more stuff, because the project as whole is just compiled of experiences from most of my life at the moment. 

Who inspires you artistically, and how does that translate into the ways in which you go about creating your sounds, your overall social media presence and even your artwork? 

Well, when I first started making music I was going by Edwin Arzu and I was just following on a string. You know how you just want to get on a boat and just ride the wave..? [Laughs] that’s what I was doing, and I was going along with what I thought everyone would like me to do. One day my best friend pretty much told me I wasn’t being myself. I took [his comment] and a few months later decided to change my name to James Scott and I began focusing on myself and was just soaking everything in. Honestly it was my friends that were inspiring me artistically.

A lot of people actually get lost in this extra stuff and social media and I feel like before you do anything, you really want to know who you are before you step out and share your art. A lot of people want to be loved so much that they lose themselves. It’s literally the easiest thing to do, lose yourself. 

What’s the direction that you hope “Forest” will take? 

Forest to me...as of right now is just like this new beginning. I feel like after my last project, that was like a reboot of myself. I feel like with Forest, this is where I could really make it [in the industry] if I really take my time and really pay attention to the sounds and being more open. I’m definitely more open now and talking about things in my music that mean a lot to me. It takes a lot to just open up to random a** people [laughs]. But I feel like Forest [the project] is my home. 

So recently you held a show at the Bronx Museum, and from the pictures we saw on social media, it looked like it was a success. What was that like for you to put on your first show, and in that type of venue as well? 

Thank you man! Bronx Museum was really dope. It was more fun because I was there with the nobodies as well. The beauty about it all for me is the fact that we did everything in so little time and it was literally so much fun. I don’t know if it was weird that we didn’t stress, (well we stressed but not a lot), about doing the show out on a limb like that, but it was cool. We had recorded most of these songs like a month beforehand and were just like ‘yeah let’s just go out there, why not.’ But people loved it and we were happy with it. Everyone gravitated towards something different during the show, and that’s what I wanted. It’s all about having fun man. 

Again, congratulations on that, that’s pretty cool man. So in 5 years, if we were to have another conversation, where would you be in your career and what do you hope would be happening at the time? 

I’d probably invite you to my crib in London [laughs]! There will be a big studio in it, with people there just having fun [laughs]. I’d love to be in place [in his career] where we are just talking about life, hopefully discussing the 2 or 3 albums I’ll have out-- depending on how I feel because i want to take my time making music, but yeah, I really want to help mold the world and I hope by then I’d be a step closer to that. 

Would you want to be signed with pretty with recording contract at that point in your career, or do you want to stay independent and push your music with your team? 

I’m not gonna lie, I think I want everything, you know? The music will always speak for itself, but of course I think I’d want a deal. I’m not going to try and rush it because I don’t want to be stuck in a deal and possibly be forced to make bad music [laughs]. But there are so many things that can happen, especially if you believe in yourself, anything is possible. 

So for those who may be curious, who is James Scott?

IAU: How old were you when you realized you could rap? 

I probably started when I was about 16  and it was funny because I was driving down to this lake house of my family’s and I was with one of my buddies -- I actually don’t know why but I think he had actually rapped for me one day, while I had never tried it myself. I thought it was cool. I wrote like one rap and let someone hear it and, I don’t know, I thought it was still really cool and something I’d be interested in continuing. So I just kept writing raps and would eventually start going on YouTube looking for beats to use. It eventually become something I loved doing and started to do everyday. It was this cycle of writing different songs, then scratching them, then writing again, and it became a part of my life honestly. I guess it’s just like an outlet for me, for different things and uh yeah man, that’s basically how it all started. 

Had you already been a fan of Hip-Hop prior to your engagement with it? Who were some of the artists that influenced you, if so? 

I definitely was listening to a lot of rap at the time and was really a fan. I was listening to Mac Miller then. Uh let’s see, Drake is one of my influences and still is. When I first started I kind of just liked rap music for what it was. It wasn’t so much about the artists or the main people that I was listening to. Now obviously [listening to mainstream artists] is a big part of my experience and  i listen to a select group of artists. MGK [Machine Gun Kelly] is probably a big influence of mine, especially now because he is dropping that album. Post Malone, I like his style too, even though he just came up out of nowhere [laughs], I like him a lot. Also Kanye and Big Sean are cool, I mean there’s a lot of people who influence me actually [laughs].

Your music catalog isn’t too extensive, but what has the response been like from your fans, or people just getting to hear you for the first time? 

Most people that I share my music with say that they think it’s pretty good, but it’s really hard to get people to really want to listen to your stuff. To build like a fan base for me has been pretty challenging, especially because people won’t go out of their way to listen to a full song and not just hit a like button. I mean I share my music with friends and family, but getting this steady fan base is pretty hard for me right now. But it’s decent, to be fair. 

What ways have you been trying to really engage the public to be interested in your music? Are you looking to release a full project? 

Yeah I mean, I think it’s time for a mixtape. I’m trying to get that together and think of a general message for the whole project, not just like a bunch of songs put together. I don’t want to create a random mixtape and just put a name on it. I want to create something where each song has  something to do with the overall message of the mixtape, but I’m still waiting for the right ideas to come to my head. So for right now I’ve just been making song after song, recording, figuring out my own sound and also figuring out where I stand in this whole thing [Hip-Hop]; like how I feel and what message and image I’m going to give off to people. I also have to figure out who I want to be in the rap game as well...

I was actually just going to ask you about that. Do you at least have an idea as to where you would like to stand, when it comes to the conversation around Hip-Hop and music? 

It’s hard because I feel like I write some songs that are completely different than the other one. I like both the songs easily the same, but they each have a different feel as well. I think it’s hard for me to declare what spot I’d like to be in, but I hope to figure that out soon. I’m just enjoying rapping at the moment, but I definitely need some guidance from some other people. It’s actually hard to find that out here, especially after moving to Columbus from Cleveland, OH temporarily for school.  

Talk about the struggles you may face having to balance both music and school all on your own. 

I’ve basically been doing this all on my own. I send everyone of my songs to my family and friends and it’s definitely time consuming doing both school and music. They both really take up a lot of time, so whenever I can, I try and work on my music and figure things out. But balancing school and trying to make music vs. really become something within music, is way different in my eyes. I’m trying to become something in music, not just make it. You really have to branch out and find connections and do all of these things, while the music making part and rapping is easily doable and enough while you’re going to school. However if you really want to get somewhere, find a producer and build, its pretty hard to find time for that. 

I agree, I think that makes complete sense. There are people out there who definitely think the two are synonymous, but like you said they aren’t. Very interesting way of putting it. 

Yeah man, and I just want to make something of my music and myself.

As you begin to start building your catalog and your brand as an artist, who would be some of the artists you’d like to collaborate with? 

Aww man, that’s tough. I think I’d want to collaborate with a ton of people, but if there was one guy that I could collaborate with, it would definitely be Mac Miller [laughs]. I don’t know why, even though I’m sure people would say that we would sound similar [laughs]. But yeah, I’d definitely do a song with him, and even Drake too. I don’t know, I’d work with anybody really. I just like making music with other people and hearing how all the sounds come together. I would do songs with artists who aren’t as well known too.

How old were you when you first realized your love for music and possibly considered pursuing it prior to rapping at 16? 

[Laughs], it’s kind of funny. I don’t even remember how old I was. Maybe [I was] 8 or 9, but I remember my Mom had this recorder thing and I started writing this terrible song that I could barely even read. I remember recording it and playing it back for myself and just knowing it wasn’t good.

But it was actually at 17 that I was like ‘man, I’d really really love to do this as a living’. I remember saying that I was going to go for it, but was also like ‘this might be a long shot ’ . Who’s really going to be interested in me, when there are so many other rappers out there? How am I going to be the rapper who makes it?’ I always felt like that, [but] I loved music and it was a huge passion. Why not go for it? 

So if all of your aspirations panned out, and you were well on your way towards being a breakout rapper, where in your career would you want to be during that time? 

Man, I’d want to be somewhere on tour in some crazy country or something, doing some crazy s**t [laughs]. I don’t know, so much can happen. But hopefully I’d have a whole bunch of mixtapes out and an album. Even having two albums out would be cool. Definitely would hope that my fan base would be big and just gives me the chance to meet a lot of people from all over the place. That’s exactly where I would want to be. 

As someone who is fairly new to the Hip-Hop game, and looking to solidify a valid space in music, what are some of the things you’d hope your music will do in order to push Hip-Hop forward? Keep in mind there’s still a plethora of very vocal Hip-Hop legends in the game. 

That’s a big question...[laughs]. I feel like I just try to make music how I make it and hope that means something to people. I like the fact that everyone can bring something to the table and the older sound is just as good, if not better than most of the stuff that’s out now. Especially when you have some of the mainstream artists who are making music just to please the masses. 

On the other hand you had guys like Biggie and Tupac who helped pave a way for many artists, without really having a clear direction. They just made great music because they wanted to, and had something to say. That’s what I’d like to do as well man, just make some thing I really love and not focus on what people want me to love. Hopefully people will like that and catch on, you know? 

For a question that seemed to be pretty heavy, you kind of answered it pretty honestly [laughs]. Essentially that’s what Hip-Hop and the culture asks of its artists really; to provide an unadulterated version of their life experiences through artistic expression.  

Yeah for sure man, I agree!

With all that said, what can we expect from you in the near future in terms of releasing new music?