Illuminati 2G

Justin: We’re right here with OB. Start us off by letting everyone know where your name came from.

OB: I’m putting my government name out there for you guys. My last name is O’Brien so the OB just came from that. My dad had the nickname OB when he was growing up. Coming up in public school systems and stuff, I had a good friend named Matt and my first name is Matt too. We always got put in the same classes together so we were driving teachers crazy. One teacher said one of you keeps Matt and the other pick a different name because I can’t handle it. I’ve been OB ever since, around 7-8 years old.

Justin: Growing up in the small town of Hamilton , Canada how was it that you got into Hip-Hop?

OB: My dad and brother are Blues musicians. I grew up on Marvin Gaye, Ray Charles and all those kind of great blues musicians from back in the day. It stemmed from there. Hip-Hop is an extension of that sound. They passed down the torch. It was always a really natural thing for me. I remember being four years old rapping to Young MC when Much Music (Canadian music station) used to have that one show, “ Rap City ” and it would come on at like 11 at night. I was always drawn into Hip-Hop at a real young age.

Justin: How difficult was it to get exposure in the Hip-Hop community being that you come from such a small town?

OB: It’s still an on-going battle with me. I’m trying to be an up and coming artist. It works both ways I think, with what stuff like Drake, Kardinal Offishall and Saukrates are doing. It’s really opening a lot of doors and eyes in terms of people from Canada can really do this. It’s still a work in progress. That’s why I hooked up with Digiwaxx and had to take stuff to the States because there are more people there and it’s easier to get stuff out there. You can sit around and complain about stuff or you could make stuff happen how you can. There is a way to get stuff out there; you just have to go harder.

Justin: We’re going to get into Digiwaxx a little later. Speaking of still fighting that on-going battle, you have made it further than most up and coming MC’s. What advice would you give to all aspiring small town MC’s?

OB: I feel like the underdog right now. I’m in the same position as anyone trying to get shows and get their music out. It’s important for me to stay in that mentality. I don’t want to get comfortable with half way doing stuff, like yeah I’ve done a couple things and I am proud of what I’ve done so far, but I’m trying to take that as far as possible and do this for the rest of my life. What I would say to people in my position or people just starting out, the first thing is to make sure you have a love for the craft and don’t try and cheat it. Get as good as you can at it and you’ll begin to see the fruits of your labor, not to be cliché. You have to get to a point where people want to hear your music. It can’t just be your friends telling you that you’re good, it needs to be a good product and you need to be as good as you can. And once you’re at a level where you’re good and people realize that, you need to follow your own heart and don’t listen to many people. Take advice but you have to trust in you and don’t be afraid to be yourself. Once you start doing what everyone else is doing, you begin to run in circles and you get nowhere.

Also, hit up Digiwaxx. What they can do for you is priceless really.

Justin: That’s some great advice. You did a little independent television series with Drake. Tell us the back-story of how you met Drake.

OB: That happened through Bishop Brigante who I’m sure you know. I was going to the studio with him in Toronto and Drake came through to put a verse on it. It ended up being the “Shorty Grinding” song that was Bishop’s single with Drake on it. They had the track down and Drake came in to do his verse. I was hanging in the studio just clowning around and we hit it off right away. The first time I heard Drake, I knew he was crazy. I think a lot of people slept on him but the first time I heard him I knew that he was crazy. I got sent his MySpace link and I was blown away by it. I knew he was someone I wanted to work with but we hadn’t met face to face yet. We kind of hit it off and started joking around. He told me at the end of the night that he was working on a television show for a long time. They were filming the next day and he wanted me to be on it. That was an honor so of course I said yes. It all stemmed from a little studio session with Bishop Brigante.

Justin: Let’s get a bit more into detail about the show.

OB: its Drake and a friend of his who was also on Degrassi. It was their own independent thing that they did. It’s called “Us and Them.” To be honest I don’t know what the situation of it is right now. I know they filmed a couple pilots and I was on one. I had a few more scripts. It’s basically just a sitcom that they did. It kind of has an Entourage feel to it, a real life feel. It’s there own thing called “Us & Them.”

Justin: You attended the Humber school of Comedy . How do you incorporate humor into your rhymes?

OB: I always try and approach things with a sense of humor. It’s important to keep that, as you get older because more bullshit happens. The thing I find about that which is weird is that Hip-Hop is a serious business.  Coming from a comedy background, it’s sometimes hard to make those two worlds coincide together because a lot of people take themselves real serious. You have to balance it out because you don’t want to rub people the wrong way. In terms of my music, I try to be myself and have fun. I have a lot of serious topics I touch on but I try to sprinkle a little bit of humor to people know I’m not taking myself too seriously. I’m not trying to come out and claim that I’m the fucking coolest guy that ever existed and I fuck so many bitches and get so much money (laughs). That’s not me. I grew up on Hip-Hop and comedy and I’m trying to find a way to make both work.

Justin: Tell us about your relationship with Digiwaxx and how they’ve helped benefit your career.

OB: That started with Ken Cash. He was out in New York and he discovered me through MySpace. He was calling my house and stuff and said he wanted to manage me. He works with Digiwaxx. I can’t say enough nice things about that whole building. As a new artist getting my music out and breaking songs, they’ve helped so much. I would also recommend that to any artist who is trying to get exposure.

Justin: You’re also signed to Mims’ independent record label, American King Music. How did you meet Mims and land that deal?

OB: Actually we are still working out all the details. Mims is one of the coolest people I’ve met in music. He’s a real down to earth dude and he’s helped me a lot. I definitely look forward to and hope we could do work and all that stuff. Nothing is official yet but I have nothing but great things to say about him. I think he’s a talented artist and a smart businessman. A lot of people just look at stuff on the surface. They saw “This Is Why I’m Hot” and think he was a one hit wonder. He had hits before that and after that. They don’t realize that. I really like where his mind is at as a businessman. He seems to be two steps ahead of where music is going. I’m excited and looking forward to doing work with him in the future on whatever level that is.

Justin: Tell our readers about the new single “Ms. Goodcookie.”

OB: “Ms. Goodcookie”, I did the beat in a day and I really liked that beat. I don’t think a lot of people have caught up to it yet. I didn’t want it to be just a club song; I wanted it to have a story to it. I was telling a specific story and I’m sure people will pick up on it when they hear it. I just liked the beat so I wrote it from there.

Justin: What’s the status of your upcoming mixtape series, “The Inconvenient Truth.”

OB: I am like bi-polar and have multiple split personalities so the title of that may change 1,000 times before it actually comes out, but right now, that is the title. I’ve basically been sitting on songs for a long time so that’s something that happens with up and coming artists; especially in Canada because there isn’t much of an outlet for your stuff to come out. I just sat on a lot of songs and wanted to put some of these records out. I want the people to decide what they think about it and that’s pretty much all that is. I have all original songs. We’re trying to narrow it down to an album’s length. We’re going to put it out as a mixtape but it will have an album feel. We did all the production on it and stuff. Will see what people think.

Justin: What’s next up for OB ?

OB: Just focusing on finishing that. I’m trying to wrap up a couple more songs and finalize the features and stuff. We’re going to put that out and see what happens with it.

Justin: Thanks a whole lot for your time OB. Do you have any last words before I let you go?

OB: Thanks for everything and keep supporting. Hit me up whenever you need something. Check me out on http://www.myspace.com/itsob