CANADA WEEK 2008

Charisma? Check.  Swagger? Check. Controversy? Check. With four years in Toronto, a first hand education at two majors under his belt, and cosigns from both Whoo? Kid and DJ Drama, The Kid Famous seems poised to help T-dot and the rest of Canada Plant their flag on the Hip-Hop map.  Will you make him famous?  Read on.

AllHipHop.com:  You got a lot of buzz from a previous incident where it was said you were writing for a Def Jam artist. Can you go into that a little bit?

Famous: I actually like to stay away from that, but I mean as far as that goes, that was just something Wendy Williams put out. Basically, it was stemmed up…I don’t know how it was stemmed up, but it was an article in Hip Hop Weekly and you guys[AllHipHop] got publication of that so you guys posted the video, and it just so happened that we’d been working on the project, like this whole Famous project, and it just went hand-in-hand so the timing was absolutely great because the buzz was absolutely going crazy.

The good thing is, we had good product to back it up so a lot of those people who checked it out, they have now become fans you know. But as far as the whole Jay-Z writing thing, like, I’m not writing for Jay if that’s what you really want to know.

"I'm not writing for Jay if that's what you really want to know"

AllHipHop.com: You seem to be fairly savvy as far as the usage of media. How does that effect who you are as an artist and your business model so to speak?

Famous: well the whole business of it is like when I came into this…I first moved to Toronto like 4 years ago and I was interning at Def Jam. Then I moved over to Sony BMG and I was working there on Tuesdays and Thursdays while I was working at the radio station.

So before the whole music thing, I was really just learning the business and we all know the new wave of media is really digital right now, they’re all on the internet. So I really try to focus on that, really try to touch as many people as we can on the internet.

It’s this 3-hit program that I have. So the first time, people don’t really care. They just see it but they don’t care. Then the second time they might remember. Third time they see it; it’s a wrap. I’m trying to hit people in threes so if each person I get to see the product sees it three times, then they’ll get familiar with Famous.

AllHipHop.com: Now each new era in Hip-Hop pertained to location. It comes in certain waves, like after the initial New York movement, you had Compton with Ruthless, Houston with Rap-A-Lot, New Orleans with No Limit, etc. What do you think it would take for Toronto and Canada as a whole to jump off and take center stage or to garner more attention?

Famous: Well you right now the city is real hot and I think the leader of it right now is Kardinal. You know the whole Konvict situation, he’s got the Danger single out with Akon. So I mean Kardinal’s been putting Toronto on the map for like so many years but like the recognition was never there. But I mean through like Akon who spots something like that, we all know Akon’s hot international so he’s just helping me because I think I’m right behind him you know as far as putting Toronto on the map.

"And you know the thing about Toronto, is like the fact that none of us made it yet but we’re still doing it, it just shows that we actually love the music"

And you know the thing about Toronto, is like the fact that none of us made it yet but we’re still doing it, it just shows that we actually love the music you know its more than just the money and the fame. We’re actually doing it because we love the music, and people appreciate the music, it’s not really where you’re from, it’s kinda the music. You know as long as your music is real where you’re from; people appreciate that.

AllHipHop.com: As far as Canadian Hip-Hop goes, is there anything different about it? The UK has Grime, and in other places around the world, their movements didn’t really start till they got a different take on Hip-Hop. Is there anything currently brewing in Canada?

Famous: Yea I think it’s more of a sound really. I can’t really speak for all of Canada but I can speak for Toronto. As far as Toronto goes, it’s very multicultural, people are real open, and you get a bit of here, you get a bit of there. So when you’re thinking about world music, people just appreciate that sound. Reggae and soca are real big influences up here.

AllHipHop.com: So when people hear the name Famous, what images should that name conjure?  What do you stand for? What is your direction as far as the music goes?

Famous: Well as far as Famous…when they hear Famous...well Famous is the name but it’s “The Kid Famous” so the Kid is just a regular kid like you know the dude who moved here four years ago and got his grind on, but Famous is like the inspiration right, so Famous is like the main name. So when people hear Famous, it kinda gives me something to live up to.

The whole Famous thing is like…it’s just real music. When they hear the name Famous, they’re just gonna be like ok what’s this guy about? It’s not often that a lot of artists from Canada are known in the US by a lot of the artists. The name Famous goes a long way. It’s more than music. It’s like entertainment, it’s like lifestyle, and it’s like branding. There’s more to Famous than just making words rhyme.

AllHipHop.com: How do you reconcile the business of this music with the art of this music? Do you come into conflict with that at all?

Famous: With the music thing it’s just my life. No matter what, you’re gonna get my life. It’s just about which beat is gonna bring out my life.  As far as the whole business to it, I don’t think they really work hand in hand. I mean I’m selling myself, so it makes it real easy to sell myself between the music and then just putting it out to the right people.

At this point, the business really hasn’t interfered because it’s really me running it…me and my partner Rez.

It’s only 2 people running it so it’s not like we got a major label who’s like telling us what to do and all that.

We’re controlling it, so I can control it as much as I want at this point.

AllHipHop.com: If there was one album full of instrumentals that you had the chance to rap over and it had to be an existing album, what album would you choose to rap over?

Famous: Ooh. I like that American Gangster. I know I could definitely rock over like all those beats. What else could I rock out? Yea that would be the one album.

AllHipHop.com: What projects have you been working on and what do you have coming up next?

Famous: I don’t like to kill the whole surprise factor. You know I find right now people aren’t surprised with the music…they know what to expect. When you give them that surprise, that’s when they anticipate it more. But like I said we released a whole project like no more than maybe 4 months ago and the buzz is just building you know and we got the hits backed up

I’m trying to have a strong fan base with people who are Famous supporters, you know that come out to the shows no matter where I go in the country. So right now this whole year we’re just putting out music to really just you know gain that and so people know the Famous life. They gotta know me. You know I’m trying to have longevity in this. You know not just the one hit and then I’m out. So it’s gonna take some time but right now everything is moving real good.

AllHipHop.com: Any last words?

Famous: Don’t hate me cause I rhyme different!