Q: Who are your influences? When you were coming up which artists did you listen to?
A: Uhhhhm … When I was coming up, I was a music head. There was never one particular artist I always gave my energy or all my time to. One day it might be Rakim, next day it might be BIG, or even Big Al, next day it might be Jay-Z … I listened to uhhhm uhhh uhh … I was a Premier fan … N.W.A. … Never a specific act I’ve stuck with. I’m a music Junkie, always been a music Junkie. My favorites have always been underdogs. Once they hit radio, I don’t really go for it as much. Right now I listen to J. Cole, Wale, Juicy J, Curren$y, Gucci … it’s crazy … I study music. One of my favorite artists … Kid Cudi! I’m a big junky! … Music junky that is (laughs).
Q: If you could compare yourself to an even more established artist than yourself, who would that be and why?
A: That’s a good question … Who would I compare myself too? I’m gonna be honest there is no one I can compare myself to. Ain’t nobody gonna do it the way I’ma do it. My blueprint has a little bit of this and a little bit of that. I don’t think anyone can say ‘Oh he’s gonna be another Jeezy or he’s gonna be another Jay-Z … or Nas’ … Nah I’m gonna be me … I don’t have anyone that I resemble.
Q: Who is your hip hop hero?
A: I’m not gonna say Nas and I really respect Nas and I’m not gonna say Jay-Z either just because I am from the East Coast. Uhhhm … Like right now currently … I would go with Lil Wayne. I’m not saying I want to be like him or go down the road he has been, but lyrically and metaphors, and the fact he puts himself into his music. It’s his creativity and the way he has perfected his craft … I respect him, because people get tired and by the time he is in his tenth bar he already killed it but he’s still going in. Almost like his last ten bars weren’t [meaningful].
Q: What do you think your listeners will get out of your music?
A: Uhhhh uhhh … Humble, Creative, Focused, Determined, Motivating, Uplifting … he’s a hustler (laughs) that’s what they’re going to get … All that!
Q: What were you thinking about when your single was developed?
A: Flava is like my first official single. I don’t do music with expectations … I don’t do music like that. I just went in the same way I do with any other song and that’s just yo … do the best job I can possibly do. It’s an uptempo beat and I need to kill it like I would do a song with a slower tempo. This is what I do everyday … except for Sunday, I gotta spend some time with the fam. I dun got so crazy with it … that I had to get one of these in the crib (points to the portable booth on screen and laughs). I don’t stop, I take this serious … this is my job.
Q: What made you want to get into the business?
A: Well, my Pops actually owned a club it was in the Bronx … My cousins they sang … My uncles they sang in the Doo Wop days . It’s been in my family like forever. People don’t even know I harmonize and do all that stuff all those vocals you hear whether it’s a girl that sings on it or whatever, I actually wrote it. I actually got into singing about three years ago kinda heavy (laughs and shakes his head) to the point where I was about to drop an album. Long before it was cool to rap and sing … I was singing … and cats in the streets would tell me ‘What are you doing? Your music isn’t hard enough …’ and this was back in 2003 when like Get Rich or Die Trying was out and your music was nothing if you didn’t have gunshots in the background. If you go back to all my records and listen to my mixtapes … you’ll hear it.
Q: What is the most difficult thing you had to endure in life?
A: It was rough. My life was rough. Nothing was ever given to me. I never had a silver spoon. I spent most of my teenage years doing bad things. So I think the transition from living the life that I used to live to actually pursuing music seriously made me understand I can’t be gettin’ into trouble. Who you associate yourself with can get you into trouble after many nights of being caught up in the streets and all that crazy stuff I learned a valuable lesson. Seeing people get hurt and seeing people not live to see tomorrow, being homeless. Yeah so … my best friend took me in at 16. High school and all that stuff it didn’t really exist for me. I dropped out of school in 9th grade. It was just a lot of … knuckleheaded stuff. My Mom came back in my life and I know she didn’t raise me like that. You get older, you have a child … It changes you.
Q: What is the most difficult thing you have endured in the music industry?
A: When you come into this thing it can be sooo deceiving. In a nutshell nobody gives a [care] about you. You may share how you feel with people, but the love you get isn’t real. Love is thrown around in the industry a lot, but nobody loves you, nobody cares about your movement. At the end of the day it’s business. I was fortunate to have a great partner named NY or Mr. KeytoNewYork. He is my business partner … I can get through the music and not have to worry about the business side too much. He believes in my vision and understands where I am trying to come from. When I first started out I was like this person got love for me and this person got love for me, but you end up relying on that so much that you aren’t [effectively] doing your job. Everything is business … have a few friends and separate the business from feelings.
Q: How did you come up with and what is the significance of your name?
A: Uhhhm … A guy named Rum Blood … I used to be running around with him and they used to call me iHop. I guess cause I was big or whatever. I was always the person who would end up doing things I didn’t really wanna do, but I did what I had to do and that’s that. So when I decided to rap I changed it to Hop and people started calling me ‘Hop Da Great.’ I never named myself nothing … in fact the names I had were ridiculous (laughs). It was horrible. I plan on cancelling out ‘Da Great’ though … just keeping Hop. Simple you know? It’s about the music.
Q: What do you hope to do with your music?
A: Change the World!
Q: How do you plan to help change the world with your music?
A: There’s a message in my music whether I’m gang banging or whatever … there’s always a message. I can’t control the message in my music. It’s deeper than the physical. I don’t control these messages I just write from the depths of my heart and soul. The experiences, things I’ve seen I jot it down. The message in Flava is ‘Yo she don’t want you … she want somebody with flava. She kissed you and your still a frog, you aren’t her Prince.’
Q: What is your 'vision' for your single? What message are you trying to send?
A: The Flava record is just a feel good record. It’s a good feeling record. You go out to the club you play the song and it’s a feel good record … makes you feel good. We aren’t doing bad we are doing some numbers eventually I want to sell 100 million records. I want to be here for years until I get old. And then I will probably get a young artist and rock with him. God willing I will be here. I just turned 26 and I went really hard when I was 20 … I will give it until about 32 or something. I have other goals. This ain’t it. My other plans have nothing to do with entertainment (laughs). I want to get into politics.
Q: How would you describe your “roots” (where you came from) and where do you
intend to go?
A: Well you always have to have a plan. My mother wasn’t born here, my grandmother wasn’t born here, but I was born here. I have island roots … St. Croix and St. Thomas. I’m like Scarface, I’m starting my legacy here. Where I plan on going? … When this is all said and done … I’m going to have a nice nice house up on a hill … nothing to far. We’re going to grow [food] and live a balanced life (laughs). The music business isn’t balanced. These are dreams I have had since I was young. I want to have a farm, have my family, of course my mom and extended family … down the hill somewhere of course (laughs).
Q: Do you feel you are working toward, on the brink of, or have attained your
break?
A: Nah, naahhh. Not yet. It’s a lot more ground to cover, a lot more money to make, a lot more hands to shake, a lot more babies to kiss. I haven’t yet completed the mission. Or else we wouldn’t be having this conversation unless you found me on top of the hill somewhere.
Q: Are there any questions you were expecting that I didn't ask and you would
like to answer?
A: Nah you asked enough interview questions (Laughs). You had some unique questions … and you gave me questions that [will let people] hopefully understand me better.
If you are interested in
booking Hop Da Great
contact Mike Hill, Manager
the8680company@yahoo.com
Phone: (717) 425-3422
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