Artist Spotlight: Nobody Famous

Rappers today are a dime a dozen.  Pretty soon we’ll be saying the same about beatmakers.  To be hot in this game, you gotta be able to do one or the other great or do both.  It just so happens that this emcee/producer does both and he does them both well.  Reppin’ the ATL out of California, Nobody Famous is not just another new face on the scene, but one that’s taking the game by storm.  Recently selected for Urb Magazine’s Urb 100, Nobody Famous has also been featured in several mixtapes, and produced tracks for Comcast, the Washington Wizards and the WWE Smackdown! vs. Raw 2008 video game.

I had the opportunity to sit down and talk with Nobody Famous last week.  Here’s how it went down…

Kevin: What’s goin on man? Thanks for stoppin by… let’s get into this. Why don’t you introduce yourself? Tell us who you are, how long you been doing you and how you got into the game.

Nobody Famous: Just grindin’ and trying to make it happen! I’m Nobody Famous, I am a producer and emcee out of a small town in Georgia about 30 mins north of Atlanta. I been at this music thing for about 7 1/2 years now, but I would say I been serious about it for about 4 years now.

I basically got into the music back in 2001, my senior year in high school when  some friends and I use to make comedy videos. We needed music to the videos so I went to Best Buy and got a $40 program that had a lot of samples in it and you could make beats with it; after I made my first beat I was hooked!

Kevin: So you’re what some consider to be a double threat…. emcee and producer. If you could choose just one area to concentrate on, which would it be?

Nobody Famous: I honestly love both, but if i had to choose it would definitely be producing. You can produce until the day you die, unlike rap careers which usually don’t last that long. I also just like taking a concept or an idea from its inception to completion musically.

Kevin: So about your beats… how would you describe your style? How do you go about making that perfect beat?

Nobody Famous: I would say they are soulful at their core, but mixed with funk and rock elements. I am from the south too, so that sound has a huge influence on me as well. I also get down electronic music such as Dub Step and Drum and Bass from time to time…so what I make is really all over the place, but always with a soulful core.

Each time I make a beat it comes about a different way. It could be I am digging through samples, it could be I am playing around on the keys but as I create it I know its the perfect beat when I start getting real excited and writing to it before its even finished.

Kevin: So what inspires you as an emcee? Who’d you listen to growing up?

Nobody Famous: My #1 influence is just life itself. A lot of the music I make people tend to relate to and it touches them at the core because I write about a lot of experiences I encountered or people I know have encountered.

When I was young I listened to a lot of stuff. Biggie was a huge influence on me as an emcee. I also remember watching The Offspring and Green Day on MTV when I was little and digging them as well, and of course old school funk and soul. My parents had the records and my sister and I use to sit at home during the summers and listen to those all day.

Kevin: Do you find it easier to flow over your own beats or do you like the challenge of rapping over someone else’s?

Nobody Famous: If the beat grabs me from the first bar, then it really doesn’t matter who’s beat it is. I know that every beat I make is not for me as well, but I do like spittin’ over other people’s joints…as long as it inspires me, I am gonna jump on it.

Kevin: Of topic, what do you think of the whole Ice-T vs. Soulja Boy beef?

Nobody Famous: I honestly think it is just another case on who Black people are as a whole. I think we are really the only race in the world who loves to bring each other down instead of build each other up. I mean you have T.I. and Shawty Lo going at it, 50 Cent and Young Buck, hell, even Jesse Jackson talkin’ shyt on Obama, the list can go on and on. I just think that Black folks need to cut all the hate and start building each other up instead of trying to tear each other down, and I will leave it at that.

Kevin: So, are you ready to see the first black President of the United States take over office?

Nobody Famous: You know it! I am excited at the possibility, when I was a child I never thought I would see it, now we are only a few months away from that idea becoming reality, it is a very exciting time in history.

Kevin: So, tell us about Hashbrowns Order Up, Vol 1. What’s the concept behind the mixtape? Is this what we should expect from a typical Nobody Famous LP?

Nobody Famous: The concept as far as the name of the series and artwork is the best restaurant in the world, the Waffle House. The series is called “Order Up!” and the first volume is HASHBROWNS, the second one I am working on is called Biscuits ‘n Gravy, and each name will be based off a popular food item from the Waffle House and one will be released every month.

As far as the music goes, it is just showing what I can do as a producer as far as production and bringing in and working with other people, as well as me as an emcee.

The series will definitely give you a glimpse into what you will hear when I do drop an album for sure, so you can look to the Order Up! series as a preview leading up to my first album.

Kevin: That truely is crazy… haha.  So when you do become famous, are you gonna change your name?

Nobody Famous: LOL, I hear this question at least once a day. Nope, it will stay the same.

Kevin: What other projects you got coming up?

Nobody Famous: Right Now the Order Up! Volume 2: Biscuits ‘n Gravy. I am getting very excited about this one, I already have A. Pinks out of NYC on it who is doing big things right now, be sure to catch his video “Hit the Lights (I’m On)” on MTV2/MTVU.

I also have Rymz Well out of Long Beach, Skinny-C out of ATL, I am going to have some of the people from volume 1 on there as well such as Chris Young, Plex Long, Sene and more, so y’all be lookin’ for that at the top of August.

Kevin: Alright, Desert Island Hip Hop… you got one album…. what is it?

Nobody Famous: I would say N*E*R*D “In Search Of…”

The reason why is because this album came at a very important time in my life when I was trying to develop my own style musically and this one kind of showed me you can do your own thing and be successful instead of cooking cutting a style.

Kevin:  Love that album… good pick!  How is Nobody Famous gonna change the game? What do you have to give to hip hop?

Nobody Famous: I don’t think one person can change the game; movements change the game. I just want to contribute my part to it and if a movement is created from what I started, cool; if not, that is alright as well. I can only give my all to my art and work hard to get better and pray that people enjoy the music.

Kevin: Served straight up! Alright man, thanks again for chillin’ with us. Any closing words?

Nobody Famous: Thanks for the interview, I greatly appreciate it! Thanks to those of you who read all the way though, go download that Order Up! Volume 1 and be on the lookout for volume 2. Add me on MySpace and if you need beats, hit me up…I got ‘em!

• Nobody Famous on MySpace 

Download Order Up! Volume 1