Illuminati 2G

Meet B-Ezzy, a Maryland born,  St. Louis based rapper who in his young career has already worked with Project Pat, had a mixtape hosted by heavyweight mixtape DJ, DJ Smallz and recently completed a collaboration with bay area legend, Mistah Fab — not bad for an MC who has been rapping for under a year.

With the release of his “Party Tonight” single, B-Ezzy is ready to take St. Louis hip-hop by storm, similar to how Nelly grasped the game over a decade ago.  Enjoy!

B-Ezzy Interview

 

Interview: We are right here with B-Ezzy; how are you doing man?

B-Ezzy: I’m good and everything is great, working on this new tape, trying to sneak up on the game. I’m just trying to get my buzz up and prove to the world that I got next.

Interview: Ok, no doubt. What was it like growing up in St. Louis?

B-Ezzy: It was crazy and I’ve seen the craziest things. I’ve had friends get shot and friends that died and got killed. I lived in the best places in St. Louis and the worst, but as I got older everything around me seemed to get better, so I definitely have to thank God for that. . It was crazy. All in All St. Louis definitely molded me into the Man I am today. It’s a lot better than people project it to be. It can get crazy but it’s still love.

Interview: You were born in Maryland before moving to St. Louis. Do you ever return to Maryland?

B-Ezzy: Yeah, I did when I was in the 11^th grade to Silver Spring, MD.

Interview: And what were you doing back out there?

B-Ezzy: I was playing basketball, I came out here to try to get  a scholarship for ball or at least figure out what exactly I was going to do with my life, so I went to DeMatha High School, one of the top prep basketball programs in the country; I got cut though. And After that, I went to Northwood High School and played basketball there for two years, I discovered my talent for rapping somewhat while at school just messing around with little battles and stuff. I attend Morgan State [University] now though.

Interview: Are you playing ball for Morgan State University?

B-Ezzy: Nah (laughs). I’m just an engineer major and a rapper, the team is nice though definitely be on the look for those bears though. (Laughs) I got you Wayne and Sean (DeWayne Jackson and Sean Thomas Morgan State players)

Interview: So you’re majoring in engineering at Morgan State and rapping at the same time. How do you manage to balance school and music?

B-Ezzy: it’s starting to get hard because I’m passing the mid-way point. At Times, it seems impossible but I just do it. I knock it out and do what I gotta’ do.  I try to focus on schoolwork as best as I can, but music is my number one thing as far as what’s going on with my life. I feel that that is my bread and butter so to say so I make sure that devote as much time as possible to it when I’m not studying or in class. However, I do plan to keep my school stuff going just in case music doesn’t work out. Because I can be on top one day and fall off the next day but at the end of the day that Education is always going to be there, no matter what happens.

Interview: I like how you have school as a backup. Say the music thing does work out though. How do you think certain people would react to you getting your education? Sadly, we’ve seen education be brought up as a negative thing in hip-hop before.

 B-Ezzy: I don’t think it would be a problem because I don’t project myself to be a thug rapper. It’s only a problem when you project yourself to be thug or gangster and you do this and that. I’m not like that at all, I live in different hoods my whole life but no way shape or am I a gangster (Laughs)I’m just a college kid who is trying to put on for my city so I use a lot of that to my advantage. That’s the kind of rapper I am. I don’t want to say I’m a backpack rapper, but I’m in that category per say. I just make Fly, Smooth, Get You on Your Feet Music.  Don’t claim to be something I’m not and I am a college student.

Interview: I see what you mean. Growing up in St. Louis how did Nelly breaking through the mainstream affect the rap scene?

 B-Ezzy: It really opened our eyes and showed us everything that the world has to offer young talented St. Louis rappers. It showed us you can really make money and a living off rap if you have good music and right connect. I’ve always been taught that in this world, it’s not always what you know but who you know and the music industry is no different.  If everything is in the right place, you can do whatever you put your mind to. It definitely opened my eyes to a whole lot of different things. It definitely opened the door for people like J-Kwon and Chingy and some other artists that followed after Nelly and The St. Lunatics. So I definitely appreciate Nelly for opening the door for us.

Interview: If you could choose one career to pan out, which would you choose? Basketball or rap?

B-Ezzy: I like rap better because I can express myself more through rap than I can through ball. I love ball but at the same time, you’re limited to what you could do with a basketball in your hands. When I’m with a pen and pad, I’m not limited. I feel like Picasso when I have the pen and the pad in my hand and music is something that last for a lifetime, when I’m 45 years old, I’ll probably still be able to write a 16 but I probably won’t be able to play ball anymore (Laughs). I get my passion out more with a pen and a pad than I ever could with a basketball in my hands.

Interview: Talk us about your relationship with DJ Smallz.

B-Ezzy: Smallz is the main reason I’m rapping to this day. I really started rapping through school because I used to be bored out of my mind in the dorm. I haven’t been rapping long at all. I’ve been rapping just under ten months and I used to record on this old laptop that my mother gave me as a graduation gift. And on it I did a track with this guy named J. Swagg who is a singer and I had it on MySpace and it got a few hits on there which surprised me and of course I wanted more. So what’s the thing people do the most on MySpace with their music? They add a lot of famous people and ask them to check out your music and you hope one day they find time in their busy schedules to check, but you don’t actually think they will check it. DJ Smallz actually checks his and sent me a message. And the rest they say is history. I plan to click back up with Smallz later on in my career with Addicted the Game Sequel or something.

Interview: How can the fans get their hands on the “Addicted to the Game” mixtape Smallz hosted?

B-Ezzy: They can download it on my MySpace at www.myspace.com/bezzyeazy. Or hit me on twitter at www.twitter.com/b_ezzy09.  Or they can Google “B-Ezzy and DJ Smallz” or “Addicted to the Game” and it’ll come up. There are plenty of ways to get it. Trust Me.

Interview: How did you get a Project Pat feature on there?

B-Ezzy: This guy I went to high school that I was cool with Project Pat. (Laughs) It’s funny because it’s this guy that you would never think even listens to hip-hop like that. But yeah He told Pat about what I was doing and pat owed him a favor for a hookup for a show out in Texas. So he mentions me to Pat and Pat was kind of skeptical at first because he didn’t know who I was. We talked on the phone and I told him it was a mixtape with Smallz; he just heard it was a mixtape. So that right there locked him in and he definitely wanted to work with me. So we linked on Yung La’s Ain’t I instrumental and went in!! You can hear that track on hotnewhiphop.com too. Shoutout to DJ Ill Will and DJ Rockstar for the hookup on that!! Project Pat will also be on my new mixtape coming out January “Ezzy Like Sunday Morning” on this track called “Supposed To”. Be on the lookout for that!

Interview: Did Pat charge you for that?

B-Ezzy: Nah, of course he charged me (laughs). He had to make profit off it somehow; of course he charged me. That’s my man though. It wasn’t expensive or anything; it was under a G; it was in the hundreds. It was a lot less than what he normally charges so I was definitely thankful for that. Money isn’t an object to me when it comes to my music, it takes money to make money.

Interview: Tell us about the “Morgan Girl” track you did over the Charles Hamilton instrumental and the buzz it garnered for you.

B-Ezzy: That was a track we did for fun. We were all out together and I have a friend who also raps. He loves Charles Hamilton and he was singing that song. Somebody mentioned like damn, what if we did a song called “Morgan Girl” instead of Brooklyn Girl? I thought it was tight and my man, and I walk to this building and he thinks of this hook in his head. He told me “I aint got no problem with Girls out of Coppin (State University) but ain’t nothing like a Morgan Girl. (Laughs) I still watch that video on YouTube from time to time.

Interview: How is the “Ezzy like Sunday Morning” tape coming along and who’s hosting it?

B-Ezzy: I got DJ Ill Will and DJ Rockstar hosting it. So far, the tape is going to be crazy. I got Mistah FAB and Project Pat on it so far, those are the first confirmed collaborations. Fab sent me a verse to a track this week. I’m trying to get Tyga or Wiz Khalifa on it; I also want a female rapper or singer on a track and that’ll be it. What they do [DJ Ill Will & DJ Rockstar] is crazy because they have their own website that lots of people go to download exclusives, www.hotnewhiphop.com. They threw my song up there, and I was hoping for 2,000 downloads. But I looked today, and it has 15,000 downloads and it’s only been up since October 19^th. And that’s just off that one track with no features. Wiz Khalifa’s latest mixtape had over 150,000 downloads on the first day off the site so they have some powerful weapons if I can get 50,000 downloads I’ll be happy, I’m going to aim for 250,000 though (Laughs).

Interview: How did you get Mistah FAB on a track?

B-Ezzy: I hit him on Twitter. I told him I liked his music and if you don’t mind me asking, how much for a track? He told me to throw him a stack and we’d knock it out. After talking with him all week, he was telling me how he was going on tour and all this other stuff. He ended up getting the track done though and it’s going to be crazy. The track is produced by the Best Kept Secret, it’s one of the many bangers on “Ezzy Like Sunday Morning”.

Interview: Who’s your main producer if you have a main one?

B-Ezzy: I have a few producers, not just one main one. I get a lot of my beats from Wale’s producers, Best Kept Secret. I got this other guy G. Rome out of Delaware. He did some beats on my last mixtape. These new beats I got are more towards the Best Kept Secret who are supposed to send me some more for the tape. I got them and some guys at Morgan who sends me beats all the time, Scuba Steve and Second Hand. Also got my man Tellingbeatz from Germany who sends me beats all the time too. I feel like I have a strong production team and you need that as an up and coming artist because the people hear the beat before they even hear you.

 Interview: Tell our fans about the upcoming single.

B-Ezzy: My upcoming single “Party Tonight” Produced by G-Rome, you can expect it on the radio real soon. It’s on Hotnewhiphop.com as well as B-Ezzy.com and my MySpace page http://myspace.com/bezzyeazy.  I’m going to have it serviced and all that very soon so request it at your radio stations. Help put your boy on the map y’all!!

Interview: What’s next up for B-Ezzy?

B-Ezzy: Next up, I’m just trying to get my buzz up. I’m doing a video with my man Dennis McKinley of McKinley films. I’m also doing multiple videos with Jordan Towers Films and they’ll be on Worldstarhiphop and etc. I’m also in talks with different management companies about doing more shows and traveling to different cities to display my talent, hopefully I can open up for somebody’s tour so I can get my name out there. I’m just trying to work as hard as I possibly can so people actually know more about who I am. Then I’m going to drop the mixtape because without a buzz, a mixtape or album is nothing, that’s why a lot of artists on labels are failing because they don’t have a buzz before they drop their newest material. I’m in the process of developing a street team that is going to help promote me and pass stuff out like CD’s, flyers and stuff like that. But I’m just working as hard as I can so that I can get the place that I want to be at.

Interview: Where does B-Ezzy see himself in five years?

B-Ezzy: Top of the rap game; or at least near the top. That’s it, can’t see myself nowhere else.

Interview: I like that. Do you have any last words before I let you go?

B-Ezzy: Definitely want to give Thanks to God for giving me this Talent, also want to thank You for this interview. Want to send a Shoutout to my family, my girl Jasmine, GMB and my MSU family.  Also a special Thanks to everybody who supports me. That’s it.