Illuminati 2G

AG Interview By Lunatic 63

 

Interview: How are you doing at this time AG?

AG: I’m alright man; living life and feeling good. I’m ready to work hard.

Interview: How old were you exactly when you began rapping?

AG: Well I began rapping out of fun down in the hood at about 12-13. It was something I realized I could potentially do as far as a career around 16-17.

Interview: Well that answers my next question. So it was around that age when you realized you were good enough to pursue

it?

AG: It was actually a funny story. I was 16 and I was going to this place where a lot of the underground rappers in the mid west were. I was just going there to watch. I guess they had this little cipher thing which I wasn’t really too aware about at the time. The mic ended up coming to me and I was on the spot. I ended up free styling for 6-7 minutes and after that, everybody showed me love. That’s when I said I could do this for real.

Interview: Ok. That’s a nice little introduction thus far. But for those of our readers who still don’t have a feel for AG, which one thing would you tell them to introduce yourself?

AG: The first thing I would say to anybody who doesn’t know me already before the rapping or before this hood stuff, is that I was born as one person, one man. I will work hard at whatever goals I put in front of me. Right now, my goal is to be one of the most noteworthy rappers in America; that’s my goal. I have to work hard to reach that goal. Before that, the first thing I want people to know is that I’m just a man and just human.

Interview:  I like that. Which artists influenced you to begin rhyming?

AG: In the beginning, it started with a couple of the favorites – LL Cool J & KRS-One. But then, once I started rising a little bit, it was DMX for a solid six years. Now in ’09, it’s Jay-Z & Lupe [Fiasco].

Interview: Would you compare yourself to any of those artists?

AG: Only thing that I realize I can compare myself to with any of those artists is the intensity that DMX gave you when he said any word. If you ever saw DMX perform, every word he said regardless of how violent or sensitive the word could have been at the time, you know he meant every word of what he said. That’s the only thing that I could compare too. Hopefully if I keep working at this, I can be as great as those people.

Interview: So you put a lot of energy into your music. Being from St. Louis, what’s the hip-hop scene like out there right now?

AG: Right now being from St. Louis, I’m not even gonna’ sugarcoat it. As far as talent, it’s very good. But as far as the ability to get that talent seen, it’s horrible. You have so many snakes in one pond. I say snakes in a pond because snakes can swim. It’s very hard to stay focused on the better things about this business when your here in St. Louis. That’s why I’m not scared to work hard.

Interview: Speaking of St. Louis, why do you think nobody in St. Louis has been able to make it as far as Nelly did when he first came out?

AG: There are a couple of very good and truthful reasons to that, but I’m only gonna’ touch on one – the effort. After Nelly came out, I think a lot of people expected to hear one certain theme from this whole area, not knowing that we are in the middle of the country and are a melting pot of thousands of genres. Basically, they only wanted dance, poppy type music from St. Louis. They were unaware that St. Louis is a very grimy and gritty city. In the city, there is a lot of stuff that go down that people only expect to hear from New York and Philadelphia. They don’t want to hear that from St. Louis. Now, I think it’s a better time to put that out there.

Interview: Why do you think it’s a better time now than when Nelly first came out?

AG: Because right now there are no expectations. Nobody expects a rapper out of St. Louis to come out and do anything noteworthy. If you’re not Nelly, they don’t expect you to do it. They expect you to come out, do a couple of things and fail. Now when nobody is expecting it, that’s when I want to hit them hard.

Interview: So did St. Louis artists fold under pressure when the expectations were high?

AG: I wouldn’t say they folded under pressure. I would say they didn’t have the information available to know how to deal with that kind of pressure. They didn’t know what it meant to be in the boardroom with billionaires and understand what you actually can do and can’t do. A lot of times people got pressured into thinking that they were limited to certain things and didn’t realize they actually had the power and energy and the resources to do more than just what they were doing. A lot of people right now, if you give them a Charger and a house, they feel content. But some people and people within certain circles understand that you can do more than that. Why stop at one Charger? Why stop at one house? The information as for getting to that point, it wasn’t available then but it is now.

Interview: When Nelly came out, did the rest of St. Louis falter because critics expected more of that dance, pop music?

AG: Yeah. That’s exactly what I was saying. But I would also add that I don’t personally think there was anything wrong with how Nelly came out. I just think that other people, instead of trying to ride what he did should have been comfortable with what they were already doing and should have worked extra hard. There is nothing wrong with competition. I would rather it be hard for me than easy. What’s hard to get stays longer; the easy stuff fades away.

Interview: And when it’s easy, you get lazy.

AG: Exactly. You get lazy and you lose those certain skills that you could continue to pick up and develop by working harder.

Interview: Back to the DMX reference, you lose that energy and intensity you once had.

AG: Right.

Interview: One thing I took from your MySpace that I found interesting is, speak to us about the stuff that you can’t control?

AG: Right now one of the few things that I can’t control is who actually likes me and not. I’m in the business of music. Right now, my job is to create what I feel is the best music. I could get away with not creating the best music if I have a great gimmick. But I choose to not use gimmicks. I can control what I do, what I write and what I say. I can control how I answer a question. I can’t control how you perceive it. The only thing I can really control is what I do. I’m going to try my hardest to control that and keep that true. Whatever anyone else decides to do, take me and portray me, they can understand that I can choose what they say as the truth or not, but they can’t control me. I can control myself and what I do and what I say. Nobody else can do that. I can’t control how you feel about my music; I can only hope that you feel the same way as I did when I wrote it down.

Interview: I like a lot of your theories. One thing I want to ask you is, how do you approach performing? How do you feel about that?

AG: I think first off, performing is like sex. One of the best parts about sex besides giving pleasure is that ending part, that big bang part. I think performing is like that; at least it is to me. To be in the studio, I’m isolated from everybody. I’m in the booth and it’s me and the mic. Don’t get me wrong, I love my mic – but being on the stage and in close contact with the people and letting the people see why I wrote down what I wrote down, why I went into that booth and recorded for 4-5 hours off one song; letting that sweat drip off you and so on. I would love if we could perform without mics. I wish we could build stadiums that could carry our voices. That’s the closest to my heart that anybody could ever get; when you’re a fan and I’m on the stage. That is the closest to my actual soul that anybody can ever get besides myself.

Interview: Going back to the energy and intensity, on the stage is where it really transfers over and we see who really has the energy they speak of. Do you make sure that when you perform, you bring that same intensity to the booth?

AG: Yes sir. That’s also what I believe. I feel like I have to. That goes back to me portraying the truth. I rather you not like me for what I really am than for you to ever love me for what I’m not.

Interview: Tell us about any upcoming projects you’re working on.

AG: Right now, I’m blessed to work with a couple of very noteworthy people in St. Louis right now in the underground. Two producers – one by the name of Wayco and the other by the name of Trifeckta who has been doing a lot of work for underground artists in the St. Louis area. I also hooked up with a couple of connections in Atlanta, shouts out to Tiny and his company Bodyguard Beats. These people have given me the opportunity to showcase my talent over mainstream beats. With these beats what I‘m gonna’ do is make a series of mixtapes, probably three mixtapes which I will start to push nationwide to get my name out there a little bit while I’m doing these interviews, columns, blogging, Facebook and www.itsmeag.com just so I can not necessarily flood, but put enough of me out there so that if people are interested in seeing what I can actually do, they have no excuse for not grabbing it.

Interview: Are you eyeing any sort of release date for this mixtape series?

AG: I started working on these mixtapes November 1^st. I hope to be done with the first one by December 30^th so I can have it out for the New Year. And then the second one, I should have out in April, around my birthday because I’m born April 16^th. If it’s not out the 16^th, probably the weekend after that.

Interview: Does it have a title at this time?

AG: The title of the series is “Midwest Side Stories.” I took a little bit from the “Westside Story” theme as far as the title, but everything else about is about my life and my story; it’s my way of entertaining you musically.

Interview: Speaking of the mainstream beats you’ve been getting, have any of the songs you’ve recorded over them been picked out as the single to launch this AG campaign?

AG: I’m gonna’ be honest you. It feels like every song I’ve recorded over these past six months could be that in a certain way. And not every song I recorded is a club type song; I know that’s how a lot of people interpret a single. Me, I’m not worried about my song getting play – I’m just worried about who hears it. In other instances were you might take a song and play it in the club as a single, that’s not what matters to me. What matters to me is how many people can feel the emotion of the song. I have a song like that called “I Know” and you can see it on any of my sites whether it’s www.itsmeag.com, Facebook or www.myspace.com/314ag. It seems that every song I recorded has that same passion. The answer to the question is yes, but tomorrow it could change.

Interview: What’s your label situation right now?

AG: I’m not with a label at all. It’s just me and my manager Kazia Steele and a couple of good people around us.

Interview: No doubt. Are you looking for a label? Or are you enjoying the independent scene?

AG: Right now to be 100% honest with you, I’m not looking for anything but fans of good music. A label is the furthest thing from my mind right now. Even if I was looking for a label, until I have the accurate amount of material that could move the accurate amount of people, it’s not going to get me anywhere. I would get screwed anywhere if I’m not ready. And not to say I’m not ready, that’s not what I’m concerned about. I’m more concerned about making the best music I could make at this current time.

Interview: Where does AG see himself in five years?

AG: In five years I see myself as the recipient of many awards and more importantly, I see myself as the artist people could look for where it’s music that is actually meaningful, truthful and to the core of where hip-hop started as, which is doing what you feel; even though nowadays doing what you feel can get you in a lot of trouble. In five years from this day right now, I can see myself as one of those people were you type me in Google, there could be just as many accolades as reasons to believe in me.

Interview: What’s next for AG? Continuing to work on these mixtapes?

AG: Not necessarily. I’m not doing the mixtapes as a goal. It’s just a quick way to get good songs out there. If you tell people I got this mixtape or album for sale, they start to get a little weary. The album seems too much like a commitment. A mixtape is like dating. I’m putting some dates out there that you could go check out; you don’t have to marry me. All you gotta’ do is check me out and see if you like me. If you don’t like me, you don’t gotta’ worry about it. If you don’t like me, then that is when you’ll understand why I’m doing this the way that I’m doing it. The mixtapes is not a big deal to me. The music on the mixtapes, you’ll feel like your listening to an album anyway. It’s just a way for the fans to not feel to commit to an artist already. Get to me know first, and I’m gonna’ give you a lot of chances to do that.

Interview: I appreciate your time AG. We’re gonna’ end on that note. We are rooting for you over here. Do you have any last words before I let you go?

AG: Only words I wanna’ say is thank you for making this so effortless and painless. Check out the website www.itsmeag.com. Get at me whenever. St. Louis stand up!