CyHi The Prynce: G.O.O.D. Music’s Second Coming

Well folks it appears that

the G.O.O.D. Music family is cooking up another bad creation, but no

worries this artist seems destined to find rapping longevity. You may

not have heard of him yet, but you can certainly bet you’ll soon be

acquainted with this southern lyrical gent. “I’m impeccable, they

put me on a pedestal and if you bite me it’s good for you like a vegetable.”

If you happened to catch the BET Hip Hop Awards than you know I’m

referring the little guy with a big mouth of rhymes CyHi The Prynce.  

CyHi is about to be the next

rap artist to rise like a soufflé. Did I mention that he has three

major record deals currently on his plate? Who else is making moves

like that? Yes Konvict Muzik, Def Jam, and G.O.O.D. Music are all hailing

the rapper to be praised by the fans of this culture. Listening to his

latest mixtape “Royal Flush” will answer your every whim about this

dude, and have your ears fixated on his word play and delivery. The

26 year old Atlanta native recently did his first mega show with Kanye

in the same city that once booed him to no end. Now if that doesn’t

inspire you what will? CyHi talks to AllHipHop.com about why his flow

is better than yours.  

AllHipHop.com: Let’s

start with the name. Why CyHi The Prynce? 

CyHi The Prynce: Everybody

was calling me CyHi due to another reason [laughter] but I started calling

myself that because my name is Cydel so I took the Cy from my name and

took the Hi from Highness.  

AllHipHop.com:  I’m told that you weren’t even allowed to listen to rap music as a child so how did you discover Hip-Hop?  

CyHi The Prynce: Now don’t get me wrong I heard Hip-Hop when I went out to the clubs, but I wasn’t allowed to buy any albums or listen to it in the house. I actually discovered Hip-Hop from a young man that was in my 8th

grade class. I also use to write poetry. I use to write little poems

for the girls to try and make them smile, and my partner was like you’re

really talented with the poems, let me show you how to rap. I started

practicing and writing raps, and it became a hobby that started to get

me noticed so I began to take it serious.  

AllHipHop.com:  So you’ve been in the music industry for a while now you started with a group and landed a deal with Def Jam. Obviously, you’re not with the group so tell me a little bit about what happened there? 

CyHi The Prynce: It

wasn’t nothing bad, but you have to consider that during the rough

economic times that it was hard to buy 5 guys a plane ticket, hotel

rooms, food, wardrobe, etc continuously.  Another thing, it was

hard for me to expand on the songs and concepts that I would come up

with because I would always have to run it by the group first and make

sure that everybody agreed. I couldn’t really collaborate the way

I wanted too within the group.  It wasn’t about my idea it had

to be about the group idea and I had certain ideas that I just had to

get out.  

AllHipHop.com: 

Now I know you were able to network and establish certain relationships

in the industry to helped push your career forward. Tell me how your

ability to network increased your business sense out here? 

CyHi The Prynce: It’s

crazy cause back in the day I didn’t really have any money, and I

use to run into a lot of people in the industry who would invite me

out so I would just ride with them. My friends would be like “man

I’m not about to be riding around with no dude and I don’t have

no money so he’s got to pay for everything.” I had a different outlook.

I didn’t have any pride because I just wanted to make something pop

off. I was able to make some key relationships and keep those relationships

in good standing.  These people saw something in me too so it was

mutual.  

Kanye West and CyHi The Prynce: “So Appalled” Live in Brooklyn

AllHipHop.com: Tell

me how the mixtape game has benefited you best 

CyHi The Prynce: Well

my situation is crazy because I didn’t get signed the traditional

way that most artist get signed nowadays.  I didn’t have a big

street buzz, I didn’t have no song on the radio, and I didn’t have

a dance to go with my song.  All I could do was rap and everybody

knew that I could rap, but Atlanta isn’t known for the dudes who just

rap.  It was hard for me to penetrate the game with the style of

music that I had so I just kept stacking my music up. I realized that

I couldn’t just keep sitting on all this music and had to do something.

I was signed to a label, but sometimes the label wants to see you make

a move first. I didn’t exactly have the means to make a move first

so I started to put out music and then I got in touch with Greg Street

who really did a lot for my career.  He guided me in certain ways

and became my mentor which helped me to make the right decisions. 

I put out both mixtapes and they sounded like an album. These were the

songs that I wanted Def Jam to put out, but I couldn’t get them to

get behind it so I had to do it myself. That’s all me and my marketing

plan now imagine if Def Jam would have used the “Royal Flush” marketing

plan that I created on a much larger scale that would have been huge. 

But on my mixtape every song was a real concept that played out instead

of just a bunch of songs thrown in together.  

AllHipHop.com: Now you’re

signed to Def Jam, Konvict, and G.O.O.D. Music tell me how one rapper

ends up with essentially 3 deals? 

CyHi The Prynce: I was

already with Def Jam. Well the thing of it is I was signed to Akon,

but Akon is so huge that he’s beyond my genre of music so I had to

work something out to bring my music to the surface as well. What I

ended up doing was working out a deal with his brother Boo and we worked

it out from there.  Than when Kanye came into the fold it made

my music unstoppable.  

AllHipHop.com: You begin

Royal Flush with a segment from one of the most powerful speeches known

to man by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. What type of overall statement

were you trying to make and hoping to evoke with the track “Ring Bellz?” 

Click here for part 2 of “CyHi The Prynce: G.O.O.D. Music’s Second Coming”