In a new conversation with AllHipHop, rapper Blacc Zacc and producer Neeko Baby discuss the essence of their latest project, 48 Hours, an album recorded entirely over just two days. Throughout the interview with AHH’s Chuck “Jigsaw” Creekmur, they offer insights into their backgrounds, the influential forces behind their artistry, and their navigation through the complexities of the music industry.
On top of it all, they reveal where they are headed. Blacc Zacc shares his ambitions for his label, Dirty Money, aiming to cultivate a roster of top-tier artists, while Neeko Baby discusses his passion for producing and his strategic approach to re-entering the rap scene after achieving a hit record. Both men explain their deep devotion to family and how that interacts with their relentless pursuit of the music. They explain why the South’s dominance may never cease in Hip-Hop.
Blacc Zacc And Neeko Baby Discuss Their New Album
Neeko: it’s just really a vibe though, man, with our engineer, who had engineered all the songs, and I just… I don’t know, I just thought about like 48 Hours and I just called him. I’m like, “Bro, we need to do that. That’s fire.” And then bro was like… He just really pushed the button for real as soon as I told him. As soon as I told him, the next day he was just like, “We’re going to the studio. I just booked the studio.”
How The Process Works Without Writing Down Raps
Blacc Zacc: I just always felt like, if you going to write it, you might as well just say it. I don’t feel like nothing wrong with it. I feel like you probably can make better music if you write it because you take your time. But just the new culture, that’s just how it is. When you write, yeah, it kind of takes away from the natural because you can write something one day and if you don’t go record it right away, I’ll be feeling a whole different way by the time it’s time for me to record it.
How Blacc Shifted From Sports To Making Money With Music
Blacc Zacc: I always made money, but at the time, we was playing basketball, played football a little bit, but that was too much of a contact sport for me and you can’t do nothing about it if you get slammed like that. You know what I’m saying? But I loved basketball and s### like that and baseball. We played baseball, too, at the time, but other than that, it was just, s###, get some money coming up.
Blacc Talks About Dirty Money, His Label
Blacc Zacc: It always started, I feel like, with me. So I just had to keep branding myself. And then, as me branding myself, I got into learning the business like bro saying. There’s more to it than just making a song. So learning the business and then just being a fan of the music and then went from that to finding artist and just investing.
His Biggest Business Lessons
Blacc Zacc: The biggest lesson…I guess sometime at the beginning I used to kind of believe everything…people said. Not everything a person say in this industry, but I guess have my expectations too high for certain people.
Blacc And Neeko Reveal The Goats They Looked Up To
Blacc Zacc: Coming up, I was coming up off Gucci, Jeezy, Boosie. Who else? And then it got to the other era to like the Migos, Rich Homie Quans, and all them type people. That was hard back then too. But now, I don’t really… I just listen to us now. I ain’t going to lie.
Neeko Baby Explains His Beat Making Process
Neeko Baby: Man, my process is really just… With music with me, I think it’s just a vibe thing. So even if I make something from scratch or if I use a loop, if it don’t catch my attention the first three seconds, I’m going to just start something new. Feel me? So that’s really my process. It’s a vibe with me. That’s how I operate. And even when I play beats for him, if his head not nodding instantly, I’m going to go to the next beat. You feel me? That’s just how I operate.
Five Things They Need To Create that Vibe In The Studio
Neeko Baby: Patron. I need some Patron. We need some wings-
AllHipHop: Okay. Wait, wait, wait. I need specifics on the wings.
Neeko Baby: Lemon pepper, all flat.
AllHipHop: I’m a connoisseur of wings.
Neeko Baby: Lemon pepper, all flats.
AllHipHop: I’m a drum man.
Neeko Baby: I’m a all flat type of guy.
Neeko Baby: I like cookies for sure. Cookies and milk.
AllHipHop: Okay. I’m a specifics, what cookies?
Neeko Baby: Chocolate chip. Chocolate chip.
AllHipHop: Okay. That’s four.
Neeko Baby: I think about some vibes.
AllHipHop: No girls, though?
Neeko Baby: That’s the vibe.
AllHipHop: Oh, that’s the vibe. Okay. The girls is the vibes. All right, I got you. I got you.
Neeko Baby: Because they a part of it too.
Blacc Zacc: I ain’t going to lie, I just need smoke, the engineer and s###, Neeko there. That’s it.
Blacc Zacc Discusses Being A Mixtape King and His Secret To Success
Blacc Zacc: Most def. Just staying consistent, always dropping. That’s where it started, because when I first started doing music, it was the mix tape area. It was more like hard copies and s### like that so we was just out passing it, me and bro. Even back then, we was outside at Side by Side where it’s like, passing out hard copies of the music and just really just touching the people that way. Then, the digital side came with all the other s### like the streaming and s### like that and we just got in tune with that and switched it over.
What They Hate Most About The Rap Game
Neeko Baby: Fake. That’s why I was telling you earlier, with me and Blacc project, it was organic. You feel me? I already know what’s up with bro. You feel me? So even you see how you asking him about who we deal within the industry, you can’t really name too many people because it’s not organic. It just be cap, for real. Somebody always want something. You know what I’m saying? So it be weird to me.
And you had said something earlier too about the lesson. I just feel like, with my lesson, keep your eyes on your own paper type s###, because if you ain’t paying attention, somebody’ll pull one over you. You know what I’m saying? With the industry, I’m pretty sure y’all know how it go. You can get one pulled over you off of not paying attention, you know I’m saying? So I had to learn that, with me personally.
The Dynamic Duo Discusses If The South’s Dominance Will Ever Wane
AllHipHop: What about the South? The South is a huge region. It’s massive. But it seems like the South’s been running Hip-Hop for about at least 20 years, maybe more. Do you think it’ll ever end?
Blacc Zacc: Like come back up North?
AllHipHop: Like, Yeah.
Blacc Zacc: Nope.
AllHipHop: No? Why not?
Blacc Zacc: I just feel like the kind of vibe that… The kind of music that’s being made now, it’ll never really probably go all the way back to… Because around that time, I feel like it was more serious. People was really taking music more serious. It wasn’t probably too much freestyling and stuff until Jay came or whatever, but people was really probably taking it more serious and it was just a different style.
