(AllHipHop News) With his first project, Joy and Pain EP, already in the streets hands, former Wall Street trader and AllHipHop.com Breeding Ground artist ANTHM is already setting his sights on his next move musically.
When ANTHM stopped by the AllHipHop.com offices he spoke about the creation of his EP, the concept behind collaborations, his love for Hip-Hop, and his own personal role as an MC in the culture’s current climate.
One of the most talked about collaborations to come from ANTHM is “Polaris”, which features Los Angeles native Blu. Despite the record finding a home on ANTHM’s Joy and Pain EP, it wasn’t until the two MCs hit the stage at S.O.B.’s 30th Anniversary show during SXSW that the two of them got to premiere and perform the track together for the first time.
The respect they had for one another led to more work between the two rappers, which ANTHM says is not something he was used to because of his lack of collaborating in the past.
“To date, before the record “Polaris” with Blu, I hadn’t worked with any other artists,” ANTHM told AllHipHop.com.
“I knew that on Joy and Pain it would be great to have some features with people I respect and people I rock with, so Blu was the first person I reached out to.”
He continued, “I always want my music to be a strong representation of me, but also who you associate with and who you collaborate with, and being able to have those kind of guys on my first real project. So, it feels great to be able to put that out.”
The love that the fans and listeners showed ANTHM and Blu from “Polaris” has led the two to creating more music together, and ultimately, it has them collaborating on a joint EP that is currently in the works.
“As far as working with Blu, he was gracious enough to come down to Austin [for SXSW], and that’s when we started chopping it up about doing a project together,” he told AllHipHop.com.
“That’s in the works now. We’re going to do an EP with him on the production side, and also have him on a couple of the records,” said ANTHM. When asked how far along the two were into the EP’s recording phase, he said, “He’s sent tracks, and I’ve been writing and it’s really about just fleshing out the creative direction of it. How realistic is it? It’s very realistic.”
The two recently jumped on the track “Young Leaders” with Sene, offering listeners further proof that these two are made to work together. You can check out that song here.
Check out the exclusive interview with ANTHM below: