The Hyphy movement has revitalized the careers of E-40, Keak Da Sneak, and Too $hort. It has also continued to add more concrete to the foundation that Lil’ Jon built in Georgia and has managed to pull some of the attention away from the South.

But before the craze, there was Willie Joe.

The 22-year-old Vallejo native had been trying to cultivate a career in rap since he was in High School. Having made mixtapes for friends and classmates, Joe, who used money from a part-time job to fuel his burgeoning career, made believers out of all them. As he grew older and continued to cultivate a path, a life-altering moment occurred. A shooting at a party woke the young emcee up and prompted his quick relocation to Atlanta, Georgia. With no money, no place to stay, and a burning pit in his stomach, Joe got a job working at the airport and, as they say, the rest is history.

The California native, who has won a handful of showcases, is enjoying the success of"Get Em, Got Em" as it burns all over Atlanta radio stations. The humble emcee talks shop with AllHipHop.com as he talks about the inspiration behind his move to Atlanta, why he really never left the Bay, and why the game is bad.

AllHipHop: On the song, "Get Em, Got Em,"you spit, Name is Willie Joe, pimpin’ don’t get me confused with/Any other dude in the game who do music. Yet, your sound is similar to Big Boi and has a little bit of Ray Cash intonation. What is there about you that stood out compared to anyone else in the business?

Willie Joe: I think that the one obvious thing is that I’m Willie Joe, and they’re not. The music that I make is pure Wata Boyz music. I’m from the Bay and I don’t sound like anyone that is from there. But, if you look at my swag and how I carry myself, it is reminiscent of the greats from the Bay. I can sit here all day and explain why I’m different and why people should notice me in the game. But really, all cats should do is just be like Puffy and ‘press play’ to hear what I’m talking about.

AllHipHop: But I think the masses are calling for something new. Not the same materialistic, thug life mentality music that you hear all day on BET or on the radio. So, as a relatively new artist in the game – how do you think you’ll be able to counteract visiting the same content that other’s have and deliver something fresh?

Willie Joe: Something that I learn through doing this music is to get their attention. It is one thing to have something and another thing to actual deliver it. I believe that you have to, first, give them what they want to get their attention and then give them what they need. You have to understand, I’m still in my 20’s. I like to go to the club, smoke weed, hang out with girls, and whatnot. But I am so passionate about what I do that I can’t be denied and want to be up there like some of the legends who represent where I’m from. I’m about putting my city on the map. I can talk about how I sold crack to talking about how a family member of mines ended up doing crack. I spit about materialistic things, but I give you something to listen to, as well.

AllHipHop: Being from Vallejo, California, you have a song called "Get Hyphy,"yet you moved from the Bay Area to Atlanta. Why move when the Hyphy movement is tied into the Bay?

Willie Joe: That’s something that people don’t know. When I moved, the Hyphy movement wasn’t popping. No one in the Bay was getting any deals. It wasn’t until I moved when the movement started poppin’ off. I feel like I’m still a part of the movement. But I’m also in charge of my own movement, as well. Take a look at things. E-40 hooked up with Lil’ Jon and that propelled the Hyphy movement into the limelight. I feel like I had to go somewhere to make my situation bigger. So, there were a lot of people from the outside looking in think, “Why did I leave while the Bay is poppin’?” I left before then.

AllHipHop: But you don’t think that maybe your sound will resonate more thoroughly because ATL is what’s hot right now? Plus, Don P. [Bay Area MC] is your cousin. So, his knowledge of business in the ‘A’ is probably more valuable there than in California, right?

Willie Joe: Don P. is a legendary local artist from the Bay. He made a lot of noise back in the day. He allowed me to get my voice out there. I learned from him no matter what, believe in your self and believe in God. He told me to don’t care about what people have to say, especially if you’re doing something different. A lot of people from the Bay thought that the South wasn’t going to feel a young guy from there. But if you believe it in your heart, then you go at it a hundred miles and running.

AllHipHop: The South has been bubbling for the past few years now. Was the move to Atlanta a more strategic move if anything to get more radio and video play?

Willie Joe: Yeah, it was. But at the same time it was a strategic move for me personally. I’ve been in the Bay my entire life. I had a lot of friends where negative things tend to happen. A friend of one my homies had got into a fight with a dude inside of a house party. He came out and greeted us as if nothing had happened. But what happened was the dude who he was fighting with, came out with a piece and started spraying out. It was just a case of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. A bullet hit my leg and my man was hit in the back. After that the next day, I was in Atlanta, GA. I didn’t know anybody. I had no money, so I got a job at the airport, used the money to press up the mixtape and kept grinding consistently.

AllHipHop: How is your man’s?

Willie Joe: He’s alright. He’s a part of the movement now. Right now, the Wata Boyz are on deck and they’re in the Bay. It was an alarm for me and the whole squad. It made us stronger and we learned more about business to apply it to the company and our foundation as a whole. I really want people to know that we’re the new guys out.

AllHipHop: On the song, "Watch Out," you say, No industry connections, no friends in the game/Just a hot click, a dream, with a third degree flame. Could you talk about how you got your exposure?

Willie Joe: Ah, I see you doing your research. I had won a contest that really propelled me out into the front. It was the same spot where Yung Joc got discovered at. I won the showcase twice. I’m the only one to do it, ever. The prize was to get a song on the radio station. It was a on HOT 107.9 in Atlanta. Other personalities started playing it and it really took off. Right now, we’re in negotiations with Warner Brothers. "The Free Agent" is my newest mixtape, that I’m about to put out. I’m not signed to them, so I feel like, “Let the bidding war begin!” This mixtape is going to put a lot of people on blast about me. Personally, I want people to follow me on my journey. I want people to know where I came from. I want to be different and show a work ethic, instead of just poppin’ up and have everything. That’s why I named the album The Come-Up. I want people to get motivated to do whatever they want and grind hard for it. The album is like a reality series on audio.

AllHipHop: E-40 is known as the originator of most of the slang that is in Hip-Hop. So, what was does “yadda” mean?

Willie Joe: In the Bay Area that is one of the things that we’re known for. There’s that and we have the independent grind. That’s why no matter what… people know that I’m from the Bay. From the slang that we spit to the way that I grind my shit, I am not trying to fade into the background. Yadda means – ‘you know what I mean’.

AllHipHop: This past December, you won Atlanta’s renowned “Almost Famous” showcase. In front of veteran music industry professionals, you came out on top. What do you think they saw in you that the rest of the mainstream public has yet to find out?

Willie Joe: That was a big showcase where all the up-and-coming artists get judged. All the people there were on the grind. I came on stage and just did me with no hype man and won. I think they saw, not only the confidence, but I believe that they saw the passion. Right now, the game is so crazy because the people are doing it because other people are doing it. Also, you have a majority of people doing it for the money. It’s rare that you find someone who is doing it for the love. I have the love for the game. It’s natural for me. I didn’t have to learn how to rap.

AllHipHop: With opinions about the state of Hip-Hop music more or less negative – in your opinion, does the game need salvaging? What can we do to collectively change it?

Willie Joe: I think that it is bad right now. But, how we should go about creating change is by everyone doing them. A lot of people are in people’s ears telling them how they should present themselves. The more that I find out about the E-40’s, T.I.’s and Kanyé’s I see that they’re successful from being themselves. If everyone else were to do that, then we’d be on the step to taking it back to the old days when originality was key.

AllHipHop: Aside from getting ready to release the album and the mixtape – what do you have in the works?

Willie Joe: I just came off of a tour with FYE and Face to Face [company]. I toured the whole Florida area. I did in-stores at all of the FYE’s in Florida. This coming Saturday, I have this big show in Florida with Jibbs, Rick Ross, Dre [from Cool & Dre], DJ Khaled, and some others. I’ll definitely be at the Bay Awards and the BET Hip-Hop Awards here in Atlanta. We’re [Wata Boyz] just keeping it moving. I have my own company and working on the artists that are coming out. We’re trying to make moves. The artists that we have coming out are fire. With the DVD that comes out with the album, I’m trying to position myself as the new dude in the Bay. They’re not showing us enough love. A lot of people don’t really understand the Bay, if they didn’t grow up with there. I have the same swag, I grew up in the Bay, but I’m doing it in a different way. We bring the same culture from The Bay, but we put a twist on it… it’ll be special.

Visit Willie Joe at www.willie joe.com
Myspace page www.myspace.com/williejoe