New Jersey emcee Albee Al sat down with AllHipHop.com’s Nikki Duncan-Smith to talk about his new project, Albee For President.
In the interview, he breaks down a few things that distinguish him from other emcees trying to get the culture’s vote to be a “Voice of the Voiceless.”
The first thing he says that should earn your vote is that he understands Jersey girls better than anyone else, offering insights into their distinct qualities based on where they are from.
Albee Al then talks about what makes him a representative for those with no voice, and why this project will resonate with them. He also talks about how dope emcees from the Garden State are and how he wants to continue representing the spitkickers that have paved the way for him.
AllHipHop: It’s 2024, an election year. And y’all worried about Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Well, we got Albee for president. What’s going on, Albee? What’s going on?
Albee Al: How are you doing? Albee for President. What’s up? What’s up? What’s up?
AllHipHop: You’re dropping a new project, and you got a bunch of people on there. Talk to me a little bit about these collaborations that you have.
Albee Al: I got a few big features on there that, you know what I mean, I build a lot of relationships in the industry or whatever. So I got my boy, Money Man, on there. Shout out to Money Man. We got a big song going out right now, a million views on YouTube. It’s called El Presidente. Yeah. We shot the video in San Francisco. It’s fire, man. It is just a vibe. It’s a nice little bounce. You know what I’m saying? Everybody rocking with it. I got another feature with Mozzy on the West Coast.
AllHipHop: Oh, we love Mozzy over here. We love Mozzy.
Albee Al: So I’m connecting the dots all over the nation. You feel me? Because it’s the presidential run campaigns. I got a feature back at home base, my boy Rowdy. My boy Rowdy Rebel from GS9. Me and him got a big feature going on, and I just was working with a lot of new producers, LilC4 out in Jersey.
AllHipHop: That’s what I was wondering. So I can tell that there are some new things there. It sounds a little different from some of your previous works. What is it like working with new producers?
Albee Al: I like it. I like it because the best part about working with a new producer me is if I’m in the studio, nine times out of 10, I got my producer that’s already there. I love working with new producers. I just love it because they hear new sounds and I like a challenge to myself.
AllHipHop: Serious question. What’s your beef with Faith? Why you got issues with Faith Evans?
Albee Al: Oh man.
AllHipHop: Yeah, don’t act like you don’t. Don’t act like you don’t. I listen to lyrics.
Albee Al: Oh, you did your homework. You did your homework. Look, it ain’t no beef. It is just that coming from where I’m from, I’m from Jersey or whatever, I know Newark females. That’s a city. That’s another city. I’m from Jersey City. You got to know Jersey to know a Newark female, A Newark female is always going up the score.
AllHipHop: All right. So I need you to explain the difference. I’m going to give you some cities, and you got to tell me what these girls are like. Okay? What are the girls from Teaneck like?
Albee Al: Teaneck Girls are like uppity. But a prime example of a Teaneck girl was like… You seen ATL? See like Nunu. She is hood, but she ain’t really hood. You know what I’m saying? She’s from the nice part…but when she finds some hood dudes, she like the thrill, but they ain’t really for her though.
AllHipHop: Okay. So what’s the Jersey City girls? What are they like?
Albee Al: Jersey City girls…they like gangsters, man. They don’t even like the nine-to-fivers. You feel me? That’s cool. If she rock over to nine-to-fivers, I’m pretty sure she cheating on him with a gangster somewhere down the line. Jersey City girls is vicious.
AllHipHop: All right. So, what about Montclair?
Albee Al: Montclair is sort of like Teaneck. But they don’t really rock with the hood, period, though. You got to find a Montclair shorty. They ain’t really popping up in the hood.
AllHipHop: All right. What about Trenton girls? Trenton girls. What are Trenton girls like?
Albee Al: Trenton is the ghetto. You know what I’m saying? It’s really the ghetto. It’s like, “Come on.” It’s crazy. It’s vicious out there. I’m telling you.
AllHipHop: All right. Then did we get to Camden? What’s Camden like?
Albee Al: Camden is the same way man. Camden is like Trenton.
AllHipHop: Jersey got a lot of MCs. And how do you distinguish yourself with all of the great… Like people sleep on Jersey, but y’all like the eighth borough of New York.
Albee Al: Nah, nah. We jersey. We jersey. We ain’t no borough of New York. No, we not. No, we not.
AllHipHop: But if you were to compare the boroughs and you compare Philly and the places where they say the MCs are, Jersey as a state… How do you distinguish yourself? Let’s start there. How do you distinguish yourself from the MCs that are in your state?
Albee Al: I just try to stay original. I got my own sound. I come from the era where we stand on the block with the camera rolling, and you play an instrumental, and we just go. I’ve always got that MC, that Hip-Hop in me that I could just go with a beat on. It’s my feel. I come from that. You know what I mean? Any beat. It could be the same beat. Keep it on for 20 minutes, we going to rap on that beat. You know what I’m saying? Bring it back. I got my own lane, and everybody rocking with it. So I don’t try to do nothing else but me. Everybody got their own style, got their own…I’m a household name in Jersey.
AllHipHop: I like that. So, as we look at Albee for President and what you have going on, what makes this project outside of your features outside of the new producers, what is significant about this project that’s different from the other things you’ve given?
Albee Al: What’s different about it is I usually talk about the jails or whatever in my music because I come from that. But I really touch on being locked up and the situations that happen when you are locked up. Because I got a lot of core fans that’s incarcerated. So I just wanted to tap in with that because Albee for President is also a metaphor for me. It’s saying I’m the President for the streets…I’m the voice of the streets. You could come to me for anything, when you going through something that is involved in hardship and pain and jail s### and real s###, period. So that’s what I’m trying to represent.
So this album alone is I tapped in so much on… It ain’t for everybody, but people going to rock with it. But I really went hard for the jails. Because that’s where I got my main source of income in there. I’m number one on J-Pay right now. I ain’t dropping albums since May. You know what I mean? I don’t care who dropped. I’m number one on JPay. CorrLinks. I’m number one on CorrLinks. I’m really big in there. So I got tired of getting caught up in what’s going on out here. Everybody is chasing this type of record. I’m like, no I’m going to tap in with my core fans and just give them what they want.