Who are some of your favorite female MCs or artists?

Rah Digga, she’s crazy. Queen Latifah, Lauryn Hill, Lil’ Kim and MC Lyte.

You talked about making music for the underground versus the mainstream on your track ‘Hold it Down.’ Where do you stand on this now?

I stand on making good music. Making music that’s honest, making music however, whether it’s coming out on an independent level or if it’s coming out on a mainstream commercial level. It will always be me, ‘cause I feel like I can adjust with any sound or any style of music whether it’s some dirty hip hop shit or some glossy commercial radio- sounding shit. Everything I speak on is stuff I do on the day to day in real life in my everyday life. I party; yeah, I hang out; yeah, I get on my music shit and my nerdy beat shit. Sometimes there really is not a box you could put me in lyrically. So I think plenty people can relate to me on different levels. I have nothing against the mainstream or nothing against signing a major label deal. If it happens, it happens, and if it don’t, it don’t. I’m a still do me.

Do you want to get into the mainstream more?

No, it’s not really something I’m pressed on. Like, I’m sitting here trying to get into the mainstream. If it comes and if it’s deal I can work with, yeah I’d definitely sign to a major label, if not I’m still cool on the independent.

You talked about not liking where hip hop was at in ‘Try.’ How are you feeling about it today?

I’m feeling good about hip hop today ‘cause I’m still in it. I’m still making music. The music that’s around me, I enjoy listening to. I still listen to them cats I feel good about. I always wish there was more to listen to. On ‘Try,’ I wasn’t really trying to come off that I was angry or anything like that. I’m not that dude that walks around like, ‘Yo, hip hop is dead and hip hop is this and that.’ I make beats everyday, and I’m good just by listening to my own shit. It was more so talking about cats that I looked up to in the industry that are not bringing it in a way that I would expect. That’s what that really was about, I’m not really mad at hip hop.

Where do you see hip hop going in the next 5 years?

I feel like I’m kind of old-school now. I’m 25 years old, but I’ll be asking my younger brothers and his friends and seeing what they listen to and what makes them like certain artists that’s on the up and coming right now. It’s like, ‘Damn, man, this is like a whole new ear for music.’ They’re starting to take it back to lyrics and storytelling and really having something to say in a song. All I’m really concerned about is how many cats is gonna have dope-ass beats, ‘cause I’m a producer. The beats come first with me—if the beat ain’t hitting hard or if that shit ain’t moving me, I don’t even really care about what’s being said. I’ll move on to the next song.

Up and coming producers that you like right now?

Most producers I’m listening to have already been in the game. I was just in Phoenix for the one-stop shop with Sha Money, where he brings out a lot of up and coming producers. The producers that were already on the panel were me, DJ Premier, Notch, Jake One, RZA, Pete Rock, Q-Tip. It was a crazy line-up, and they actually had a battle with some up-and-coming producers. There were a couple cats that was, like, ridiculous. But I can’t really think of any producers that have put out some songs on albums right now.

It feels like you’ve been around for so much longer than your age.

[Laughs.] Do it?

Yeah, you’re sitting up there on that panel with guys that have been around since you were a teen, you know. You’re only 25. That’s kind of crazy.

Yeah, I guess it is. I never really thought about it like that. But, I mean, hopefully I can get to that level where people give me that. I know a lot of cats respect what I’m doing, but you know I’m trying to get that respect. When people talk about who is your favorite producer, I wanna be on that list with the RZAs, and the Pete Rocks and all of them.

Where’s your heart at?

At this moment, at this exact second, my heart is at getting to the Louis Vuitton store to get some more Louis Vuitton accessories.

Are you really going there right now?

That’s where my heart is at.

You can get me some stuff while you’re there and send it to me.

[Laughs.] All right, I’ll do that.

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TAGS: Black Milk

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 9th, 2009 at 8:01 am and is filed under Back Issue, Features, Issue 4, We Heart.... You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.