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nature

Part two with hip-hop legend in the game Nature

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Credit to: Deep Concepts Media
Credit to: Deep Concepts Media

 

In part two of my interview with hip-hop legend Nature, we discuss who he thinks is the best out there right now, the hip-hop industry as a whole, his link up with DCM and why these rappers nowadays need to be focused on the business and not so much the whole “Popping Bottles” aspect.  Take a look.

How long did it take you to come up with all the tracks for “For All Seasons” and what was the process like?

“For All Seasons” was a little bit more complicated, we had some issues.  Some of the songs from the original project we had to wait, and some of them that we did record wound up getting leaked onto New York City mixtapes, so I was in the studio for a while and very frustrated.  The album was actually recorded two years prior before it ever got released due to all the issues that came with it.

You had a lot of time between your sophomore and third effort between 2002 and 2008.  What was going on in the meantime that stopped you from making more?

Well no matter what happened I always was making music, but a lot of life stuff happened as well.  I had to work, had a daughter and other things happened.  I just had to find my footing again, kind of like an NBA player in the off season. You want to shoot around and sharpen your skills to a certain degree.  Still during this whole time I was watching what was going on in the industry and stayed focused when I was ready to return.

Tell me about how you linked up with DCM.

Our friendships started online basically.  They were a bunch of guys who I thought were a bunch of dope producers but once I got to know them I realized they had a huge passion for music and for me as an artist and showed me how they were gonna go the extra distance to help my career.  We just vibed well. I was skeptical about who I wanted to go into business with because I was on the sidelines for a while but they proved their dedication and passion for the business and it turned out great.

What are your plans now that you are with these guys?

We are gonna drop this first project which is a four part series. We are starting with a spring edition now.  In a couple of months there will be summer one, then fall then winter.  Trying to make the dopest music as possible.

As someone that has been in the game for almost twenty years, what advice do you give to these young guys in order for them to have longevity?

Just stay true to it, you know what I mean? You can tell when a person is really passionate.  I didn’t really come in to follow a trend, it took me a long time to get to where I was professionally.  When I was a child, my love for this grew more and more as I got older.  When I was making my way and going to the clubs and what not, I stayed true to what I was talking about in terms of real life situations and not a lot of what was playing there at that point.  I would say that should ring true to a lot of the guys out there right now- be yourself.

Are you happy with the way that hip-hop is going right now?

I am happy with it as far as its reach and how far it’s growing.  It used to be an inner city thing, now it is in the suburbs and in different countries and what not.  I am happy with it being beneficial from a business standpoint.  As far as everything else, I can’t really comment.  It has it’s pluses and negatives.  There are variations of hip hop- south sound, international sound, reggaeton is even considered hip-hop now. I am more of a purist and I stick to that.  It is definitely more lucrative now, but I wouldn’t advise to do this just for that.  You got to love what you do.

Who in your opinion is the Best New Artist right now in hip-hop?

It all depends on what you think is being new.  Some of these young guys it’s hard for me to make a comment on because I can’t judge them on just a couple of records. I need to hear your body of work.  Can’t just come out with one or two records and think the world will think you are hot.  Gotta do more than that to stay on my radar.

Looking forward, what are you most hopeful about?

I hope to bridge the gap for me and some of the younger generations.  Some of these guys need to be schooled on how the business.  It’s not all about poppin bottles and making it rain, they need to have a better idea of what we are doing right here. I just hope that everybody gets a chance to really listen.  That’s all I ever wanted them to do.

More on DCM and his latest effort “Seasons Change” here.  Good stuff.

Hip-Hop Icon Nature on his past, present and future with DCM

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Credit to: Deep Concepts Media
Credit to: Deep Concepts Media

 

Hip-Hop icon Nature has been in the game far longer than many rappers even dream of having that kind of longevity.   A key and pivotal figure of the hip-hop movement of the 90’s, he successfully did what many artists dream to do in securing a number one debut with The Firm’s freshman release of “The Firm: The Album” with AZ and Foxy Brown.  A childhood friend of Nas, he catapulted his career shortly afterwords with the release of “For All Seasons” and has become an important emcee in the game for over two decades.  Now he has exclusively linked up with Long Island hip-hop label Deep Concepts Media and has released the first installment of “Seasons Changed 4” EP Series, produced by a variety of great guys from Little Vic to DJ Concept.  In this exclusive two part interview with Manhattan Digest, Nature sits down with me to discuss his past with The Firm, his relationship with Nas, and his future with DCM.  Check it out.

At what age did you know you wanted to take hip-hop seriously?

I was in love with hip-hop since I was a little kid, from aspects of break dancing to the graffiti and all of that.  What I would do when I would come down to the actual rapping was change the words of the popular song and do my own thing with them.  Around 12 or 13 is when I started to realize I had a knack for this kind of thing.

Who were you influences that inspired you to become a rapper?

When I growing up there wasn’t as many rappers out there as there are today.  So for me it was legends like Run DMC, LL Cool J and the guys like that that were making their mark in the game.  The first hip-hop record that I fell in love with LL himself with “Radio”.

When did things really start making waves for you in the industry?

Well I’m fortunate enough to come in the game with guys like Nas and Track Masters and Dr. Dre and stuff like that.  There was no middle ground for me, it went from just rapping locally to the guys in school and the block and now you are flying out to Miami and LA and doing big things.  It took a while to adjust to that.  I went from the baddest box straight to third base pretty much.

How would you describe your sound overall?

My sound is pretty vintage.  I come from an era where you had to make sense when you rhyme and it isn’t much about the materialistic things that seem to populate the airwaves right now.  Mine is a mix of old and new, beats that I like. I am a fan of what is out today but I came in the game in the 90’s so I am attached to everything that was out in that era.

What was the process of coming into The Firm like?

For me it was cool because I got to go through Nas who was a childhood friend of mine so I didn’t have to go through A&R and all of that.  Any questions that I had I would throw to him, didn’t really deal with the other people.  I didn’t realize how big or how much potential that project had, it was my first real shot.  I understood there was a lot of money put behind this, so each of us really put our best effort forward when it came to making this album and it really came together and the results were just phenomenal when it was released.

How did it feel to have that album hit number one on the Billboard 200?

That was amazing! Everywhere that I went people would recognize me and know certain things and I was like “Whoa! This is crazy!” I didn’t have enough time to adjust to it.  We would go out, make an album and shoot some videos and all of a sudden it was number one.

Check back here tomorrow where he discusses his thoughts on hip-hop today, his new EP and his plans for a hopeful future.  Take a listen to his new EP here and for all things DCM click on this link.