On the Grind: The Kid Ceez

This here is Part 2 of the last On the Grind article. This one is with The Kid Ceez, an affiliate of Mr. Dope Flow. Check out the interview and tell me what you think about it.

Follow the Kid Ceez: @TheKidCeez

IdoitforHipHop (IDIFHH): When did you first start rapping?

Ceez: Basically since the 7th Grade. It all came slowly, but that's when I decided to take it seriously.

IDIFHH: Who would you consider to be your biggest influences, music wise?

Ceez: My biggest influences would have to be Jay-Z and Fabolous. Hov has done so much for the game since Day 1. He has definitely set the bar really high. Loso has been my favorite rapper for a while because lyrically, the dude is sick. Punchline after punchline which is what catches my attention in songs and the fact that he can spit about anything and make it hot. He's dope.

IDIFHH: So you like the BK, got it. If you could pick anyone to guest on the hook for a track of yours who would it be?

Ceez: At the moment, I would have to say Drake, hands down. The kid is talented and very creative with hooks. Not to mention he's on fire right now.

IDIFHH: Speaking of Drake, he's signed to Cash Money and Young Money. What do you think about that movement?

Ceez: It's crazy. Wayne pulled an all star line up. That's a label I wouldn't mind signing to.

IDIFHH: I don't think that there are many that wouldn't.

Ceez: True.

IDIFHH: Label wise, you run your own. I have to ask, how do you balance being an artist and running a label?

Ceez: I think it helps that I have a great team that don't give me trouble when ti comes to decision making and they help as well, so I never really feel as though I'm on my own with things.

IDIFHH: I guess being an artist helps you see things from their perspective too. What are your views on the whole downloading issue that has been plaguing the industry? I mean, it really hurt 50 Cent and his Before I Self Destruct project. How do you think the labels should respond?

Ceez: Downloading is a major issue as far as sales go, but I think its to a point where it's too much for the labels to handle. The internet is damaging album sales too much. Labels can work harder, and not letting tracks leak as easily, so you have to go and get the album to listen to it, but other than that, there's not much that they can do.

IDIFHH: Do you think that maybe the days fo the CD are over? Take T-Pain and his Nappy Boyz label. It's all digital.

Ceez: Not so much as being over, just that its harder to be successful with it. I think it'll get better in time though.

IDIFHH: If anything, the downloading should increase. What makes you sure that it'll get better?

Ceez: The fact that labels are going to get to a point where they're going to have to resolve the situation.

IDIFHH: True. I don't think that its going to end well for the artists.

Ceez: We just have to say positive and hope for the best.

IDIFHH: With the forefront of the game being in the south, what do you think NY needs to do to maybe bring it back?

Ceez: Unite. One reason the south is in control is because they're putting differences aside and making collabs on a daily basis. Our egos are stopping us from doing the same. We need to stop all this beef shit.

IDIFHH: With Jada and Fif putting their shit behind them, do you think that its something that could happen in the near future?

Ceez: Its a start. Its a great move by them. That might be the beginning of the east making a comeback.

IDIFHH: Before I let you go, are theyre any shoutouts you'd like to make?

Ceez: Shoutout to my TNE Squad. DollarSIgn T, Spoda, and Tone! 2010 is OURS. Shout outs to the homies JayCro, Young Fame. HBF and GPS, Da Connect lives on. My bro Code Red and everybody else I fucks with. Shout outs to my twitter fam, and all the fans out there, they make it all possible.

IDIFHH: Alright, take it easy.

Ceez: You too.

On the Grind: Mr. Dope Flow

For the next On the Grind post, we've got a two part post. The first part is with Spoda aka Mr. Dope Flow. One of the first people who followed me on twitter and showed me love, I had to chop it up with him and see just what was going on in his world. Maybe after this interview, you'll feel like I feel, that he's on his grind.

Follow him: @mrdopeflow
Check out his blogsite: http://www.spodamusic101.blogspot.com/

IdoitforHipHop(IDIFHH): So when did you start rapping?

Spoda: I started rapping around 1997/1998.

IDIFHH: Who would you consider to be your biggest influences, music wise?

Spoda: Jay-Z, Nas, Jadakiss, Gangstarr, Biggie, Das Efx, Heltah Skeltha, and AZ

IDIFHH: Speaking of Gangstarr, Premo is one of the best producers out. If you could work with any producer for a whole album, who would it be?

Spoda: Well, I actually got a few. Premo, Kanye, 9th Wonder, and Just Blaze

IDIFHH: Nice. Alright, with so many artists using the internet these days, how do you feel it has affected the music industry? Do you feel as though the pros outweigh the cons?

Spoda: I think the internet is a great tool as well as a bad tool for music. Mainly for two reasons, first off the record sales. It's definitely making a huge decline for the simple fact that people can download an album, a single, or whatever. Meaning that not to many people buy the actual album when it drops. But on the flipside its a great tool for promotions and networking. Everyone is on the net, whether its for doing promotion for social networks, A&Rs, and labels who look for talent on the net for the simple fact that its where everyone is at.

IDIFHH: That being said, with so many trying to get on, what do you feel makes you different from the rest?

Spoda: Personally, I don't feel as if I sound like anyone else. When I write, I try to distinguish myself from the rest. There's so much new talent, but you always hear "He/She sounds like so and so." That's now how I want to be categorized. So I write so that I'm labeled as my own breed and so that I stand out instead of fitting in.

IDIFHH: Yeah, I think being labeled is something that a lot of artists need to avoid. A good example recently is Asher Roth being compared to Eminem. So what are you doing in 2010, and what, if anything, are you doing differently from 2009?

Spoda: Well for starters, my sophomore mixtape, "The Arrival" hosted by DJ J-Prince is dropping 2/23/10. I have a few other projects I'm working on, mainly staying more consistent and hungry. I'm definitely building up my fanbase, which is growing daily. Just trying to stay relevant.

IDIFHH: My next question is what's your creative process? Do you need the beat first or do you write and then change accordingly?

Spoda: It really all depends on how I'm feeling. I'm constantly brainstorming so sometimes I creat verses without a beat. Then there are times when I want to write to a beat to make sure my flow and delivery is on point. The majority of the time when I get a beat, I listen to it on repeat, turn it off, and the beat is stuck in my head. So I also rain like that. In one of my verses, I summed it up. I said, "I don't write/I brainstorm it till the page is filled/"

IDIFHH: Gotcha. If you could collab with anyone living, who would it be?

Spoda: Good question. The LOX, Jay-Z, Fabolous, Young Chis, Joe Budden, Nas, Juelz Santana.

IDIFHH: You're heavy with the New York people.

Spoda: Yeah. West Coast, Nipsey Hussle, Game, Snoop Dogg. South: Scarface, Andre 3000, T.I., and Ludacris.


Be on the lookout for his mixtape, "The Arrival" dropping 2/23/10. Part 2 with The Kid Ceez coming soon.

Cassidy: Where To Next?

I have to wonder what goes through Swizzie's head sometimes. Interesting beats, dope collabs aside, he's not the greatest when it comes to label talent and managing that talent. Full Surface doesn't have the greatest of track records. Cassidy is one of those examples. He's an incredible lyricist and he definitely has bars, but his albums have been hit or miss. He comes out with one or two records off the album that do well, but the rest of the album doesn't live up to the hype. A lot of the time, he only has the one record that works. I'm a hustla the second time around and the third time he had My drink and my 2 step.

But he doesn't get the promo that he needs after that. I'm not sure if it's a problem with him of with Full Surface and Swizzie. I know that he's working on another album and that he's on his grind, but realistically how many battle rappers have been successful and how.many have had lasting careers. He's not one of the few in that number. I honestly think that one of Cassidy's problems is Swizzie. He has a tendency to focus on a particular type of record and Cassidy kinda has to work with only that. I think that Cass needs to work with different producers and that'll do another thing for him.

He's not that deep of an artist. He has things to talk about but they don't really come out that much. On the last record he started making songs like that. But he had more material to talk about considering his arrest. He did come out with more personal records like Innocent, Leanin on the Lord, and Done 4 me.

If you couple his lyricism with deeper topics them you have an incredibly potent, at least to me, combination. Sticking to the same formula isn't going to help him in the long run. He has to change and he has to adapt to the times. Hip Hop has changed and the B.A.R.S. album showed that he realizes this, and is attempting to make the adjustment. I think he just needs more time to fully get into the swing of things, but the problem is that the game could change while he's adapting to the new way of things.

He's one of the best out of Philly and he has the ability to be great and really put the city on his back. Philly needs someone, after Freeway and Beans' problem with Jay.

Ludaversal: The Maturation of Ludacris

Ludacris is one of the best artists in the south. That much goes without saying. There are very few who are on his level, especially in the mainstream. Three stacks is still the the greatest there is, followed by Scarface and Big Boi and then Luda. Say what you may want about T.I., but he's not really on Luda's level. Luda has a history of killing people on their own songs and he's def. good at not letting it happen to him on his own songs. The thing that I've been thinking about is whether or not Luda can really do Luda anymore. I mean Luda has a history of making really good but also really raunchy club songs. What's your fantasy, Area Codes, Splash Waterfalls, the list goes on.

But what's interesting about those records? They're all kinda old. They're still awesome, and they get pretty damn good rotation all over the place, but there hasn't been a new song like that from Ludacris in a while. Money Maker? What Them Girls Like? One More Drink?

One More Drink is the closest out of all of those to really be something like the old ones and even then its not really like them. Its much more subdued, much more toned down. The question that I've been asking myself, has been: Has Ludacris really grown up. Did Release Therapy achieve what he was trying to do? Has he reached the point where he's not really doing the Chicken-N-Beer kind of stuff, but he's on that Do the Right Thang kind of stuff?

I mean, he can still get a party started and he can do it well, but it seems to me that he's getting to the point where he's past that. He's not into the crazy partying, but the grown up, Hollywood high life partying, not the Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan shit though. He's on to the next one. He's growing up and his movie roles and the experiences that he's going through now are making him a different kinda person. Yeah, he can still rip a 16 and you don't want him to be as a guest feature on your record unless you're bringing more than your A game, but he's drifting away from what his bread and butter was. I for one don't mind it. I can dig the whole shift away from his original style.

Not because I'm cool with him in a sense selling out his former ways, but because growing up is a natural part of life. It happens to all of us, regardless of where we are in life. We learn more and we understand more and it affects us. If making that kind of music makes him a better person and a happy person in his life, then that's awesome for him. I've been buying his records since Red Light District, I bootlegged before that from friends. I bought Theater of the Mind because I know that Luda might not have the amazingly awesome party records like he used to, but his lyricism is undeniable.

And more importantly, he's saying things and talking on subjects that actually matter.

With all that said, I'm definitely looking forward to Ludaversal. He's not the first southern rapper on a Premo beat, but he's one of the best they've got. You just can't argue with that.

Outkast!

The Clipse kinda recently stated that they were the best rap duo ever. They're pretty damn good. The first thought is what does it mean to be a rap duo. Do both have to be rappers? So……a group like….Gangstarr wouldn't count? Cause…tell me if I'm wrong, but I kinda think that they're better than the Clipse. Anyway, assuming that both members of a duo need to rap as their main thing in order to be a rap duo, there is one duo that's just a little more dynamic duo material than the Clipse. Big Boi and 3 Stacks for the win. Outkast is by far the greatest duo of all time. Name an Outkast album that was bad. Not an Outkast album that you didn't like, but an Outkast album that was bad. There's a difference. You can personally not like something and still admit that its good.

They've put the time and effort in on each release that bears their name. Every album has been amazing, whether it’s the production or the lyrics. They've constantly been experimenting with everything they do, creating unique sounds and using instruments that others haven't yet. Affiliated with the Dungeon Family and Organized Noise, they're a powerful force in Hip Hop and Rap.

But the last Outkast album was 2006. Idlewild, the first, maybe, stumble in their catalogue was released alongside their movie and it's been a minute. Rumors of a break up have swirled around the group. Big Boi has been working on a solo album that has long seen setbacks and pushbacks, Sir Luscious Lefty the Son of Chico Dusty. All I know is that I don't really watch cartoons all that much anymore (Boomerang, I see you!!) so I don't really see anything of that Class of 3000 tv show. Regardless though, I want a God damn new Outkast album!

Remember Hey Ya? Roses? Ghetto Musick? B.O.B.? Way you move? Ms. Jackson? Jazzy Belle? Elevators?

Is it too much to ask for another album of phenomenal music? Really?

All I got nowadays from the ATL unless I'm looking at T.I. and Luda is people like Gucci Mane...Yung LA…Soulja Boy…and…I might just cry. Gucci is getting nice, but he's nowhere near the league of Luda or T.I. Come on now.

Outkast, please help save Hip Hop. For the love of everything sacred and holy.


(Oh and it'll help Big Boi pay the taxes he owes to the state of Georgia. There's always that)