CANADA WEEK 2008Charisma? 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!
