1. What motivated you to get started in the rap game?
First off I’d like to thank you for this opportunity, well my motivation at first was just to have fun it started off as a hobby then it jus became a 24/7 thing you know writing, keeping the pen and pad everywhere I went, then from there it went to booking studio sessions every other week, from there it basically became a profession of sorts. My passion and love really keep me motivated to do it now.
2. How did you choose your nickname?
I have 2 meanings for my name, one I say its a metaphor for being blessed, Blessed to be in the position I’m in now, blessed to be doing what I love, blessed to be around the people I’m involved with in this industry, blessed to have not taken the wrong road as some of my friends from the old days. It’s also an acronym, it stands for “Courageous Rapper Using Sentences As Fact Involving Xperience”.
3. Define your music within a few words…
If I can define my music in a few words, the words I’d choose would definitly be Personal,Different,Unique, and Lyrical. Personal because everything I spit,every word, the way I say my words all comes from the heart and draws inspiration from something that has happened in my life. Different because nobody raps the way I do, you can’t say I sound like anybody else doing it, I have a different flow, different way of writing, different way of picking and choosing my topics aswell as instrumentals to rap on. Unique well that kind of falls into the same catergory as different, I jus try to be the total opposite of everybody and everything that people call Hip Hop today. Lyrical because every line every word packs a punch, I’m a lyricist all I do is lyrics lyrics lyrics lyrics all day.
4. According to you, what makes you appear as unique in the world of hip hop?
Like I stated before everything about me is unique nobody can say I sound like any other rapper thats out.Everything from my flow to lyrics the way I deliver my lyrics is way different. Plus the subjects I choose to speak about most rappers hide from all that and are afraid to speak on the topics I choose to speak of. I also feel that if nobody can relate to what I’m speaking of then the battle is sort of lost, I try to relate to the common people of today by speaking of issues that deals with each one of us as people in one aspect of our lives.
5. What is the biggest challenge you had to face since you started rapping?
Patience. I’m incredibly impatient, I have a hard time waiting for things. I usually jump the gun at times, my dude Paulie Hussle always tells me “I’m too eager”. So that really would be the biggest challenge I have to face.
6. Which artists have you collaborated with already?
The artist I’ve collaborated with already would be Hauztile(from Cali),G-Kid(From Perth Amboy, NJ) The Leegans(Bronx,NY),Minus P(Washington Heights,NY),Paulie Hussle(Union City,NJ),Alphabetical(Jersey City,NJ),Sincere(Kearny,NJ),Oddateee(Union City,NJ),Menace(Kearny,NJ),Bless(Florida),A-Murda(Florida),White Haze(Harrison,NJ),DJ Rick(Detroit),Timothy Jones,Jabril Aka Hookmaster(whose affiliated with Terror Squad’s Kill All Rats camp), and I’ve remixed countless records with some of your favorite R&B artist.
7. What is your opinion about the current state of hip hop?
Well I’m not going to say the popular answer of Hip Hop being dead. But Hip Hop to me is dead as the original state of the art. There’s a few artist that are still keeping it alive, but like my dude Archrival said to me once “I’m still bumping shit from the early 90’s like it just came out yesterday, and the artist I listen to on the Undergorund are still doing there thing so I listen to whats on the merchandise table so Hip Hop is still alive to me.”
8. Which hip hop artist (underground or mainstream) has earned your full respect and why?
My first answer would be Jay-z because of his versatility to stay in the game and still doing his thing after so long, I also respect his business Hustle. I respect Nas aswell because if it wasn’t for “It Was Written” I wouldn’t have ever wanted to pick up a pen in the first place. I also respect Big Pun because of his versatility aswell he still did to what some would consider commercial music but still killed it lyrically on every track and feature he hopped on. As far as on the Underground I respect my dude Paulie Hussle because of his business sense aswell as his music sense, plus he took me from recording in my house to a studio to work on my album so that I will forever respect him. Oddateee because in his own right he’s a legend, he’s performed in many states and countries that I’d love to tour and smoke weed at one day.
9. Who or what is your biggest source of inspiration?
My biggest source of inspiration is life. Like I said I usually draw from a certain point and time in my life and speak about in the best of my ability. I want to change the wrongs in my life and hopefully turn them into rights one day.
10. Old School or New School…where goes your preference?
I prefer both actually. People need to relize not all Old School is good and not all New School is bad.
11.Besides hip hop, what kind of music do you listen to?
This is a really good question, you can find me listening to alot of things like rock,reggae,spanish music.
I listen to all sorts of shit one day you can catch me bumpin Nas’s Illmatic and the next bumpin some Coldplay. Just the other day I got put onto The Beatles and Pink Floyd which I must further investigate there godliness. In other words you can say I’m ecletic when it comes to music. As long as it sounds good and bumps I’ll fuck with it.
12. Do you have any upcoming projects for 2008? If so, could you give us more insight about them?
Well of course my first project is my debut album “Jersey Bible”, you can catch me on Paulie Hussle’s album “A New Hope”, Alphabetical’s album “Alpha”, I will have a verse on the upcoming Oddateee album just don’t know if theres a title for it yet, White Haze’s “Sex,Drugs,And Violence” mixtape, I will also be dropping a mixtape in the fall entitled “Sunday School”. Aswell as many dvd projects that will involve the Gritty Records team and its affiliates.
13. Which artist(s) (underground or mainstream) you haven’t collaborated with yet- would you envision a collaboration with in a close future? Why?
Well as far as the Underground I can’t see myself on tracks with anybody except the people I mentioned above because I’m more of a in the moment kind of dude, if we’re in the studio at the same time and a tracks playing and we agree to that certain track then we’ll get to business. As far as mainstream I’d love to do a song with N.O.R.E because that dude is nasty and he’s a funny ass dude so I can definitly get down with that because I’m a wild dude when the record button is off. Jay-z because…well he’s Jay-z. Joe Budden because we’re both from New Jersey and I feel our styles would complement each other very well. Eminem because he’s crazy lyrical when he isn’t on commercial mode that would definitly set hip hop on fire. I’d also like to do a track with Amy Winehouse because shorty can sing and her music is crack so I can definitly fuck with that. Since this is the last question I’d to get in my shout outs, Shout out to my peoples Paulie Hussle,Sincere,White Haze,Alphabetical, and everybody else that is down with Gritty Records. Also if any unsigned artist wants to get his music played on radio add Real Deal Radio to your myspace and put us anywhere on your top, YOUR MUSIC WILL BE PLAYED. www.myspace.com/RealDealRadio201.
Crusafix’ my space account.
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