Runt Dawg
Royalty Magazine: At what age did you decide to make your dream a reality? What was that feeling like?
Runt Dawg: I started in 96. Ppl loved my couple of rhymes..so I wrote more, did songs and got heard by Ruffhouse Music.
Royalty Magazine: Good looking out Love! Till next time...
Courtesy of Tazzy for Royalty Magazine
Royalty Magazine got a chance to recently interview Hop Da Great! Shot out to Hop for the interview. Here is how it went down...
Royalty Magazine: What's popping Runt? How is your summer going so far?
Runt Dawg: Errthing good baby..this has been my best summer ever!!
Royalty Magazine: Well for those that don't know, you have previously dropped projects such as the "Yung Turna Mixtape", "Friday the 13th Parts I & II", etc. Any hot new/upcoming projects you want to tell us about?
Runt Dawg: I got "Friday da 13th pt.3" poppin', plus my new joint "Shutdafukupandlisten" coming soon...all over "Muddy Waters 2" Redmans new lp also comin soon on GillaHouse music.
Royalty Magazine: That's wassup! I am looking forward to that. You got heat and I am anxious to hear some new music from you. I am also a Redman fan so hearing that Muddy Waters 2 is coming soon is hot! Good ish my nig! Now tell us who is Runt Dawg? Like how would you describe your vision as an artist? What's your style? What makes you stand out?
Runt Dawg: Runtdawg is gutter, grimy, hood, but humorous, gritty and identifiable..whut makes me stand out iz my brick city swagger of course, and catchy punchlines.
Royalty Magazine: That's wassup! I am looking forward to that. You got heat and I am anxious to hear some new music from you. I am also a Redman fan so hearing that Muddy Waters 2 is coming soon is hot! Good ish my nig! Now tell us who is Runt Dawg? Like how would you describe your vision as an artist? What's your style? What makes you stand out?
Runt Dawg: Runtdawg is gutter, grimy, hood, but humorous, gritty and identifiable..whut makes me stand out iz my brick city swagger of course, and catchy punchlines.
Royalty Magazine: At what age did you decide to make your dream a reality? What was that feeling like?
Runt Dawg: I started in 96. Ppl loved my couple of rhymes..so I wrote more, did songs and got heard by Ruffhouse Music.
Royalty Magazine: Can you remember your first rhyme? If so, tell us what was it about?
Runt Dawg: My 1st rhyme..lol..I remember most of it,I was on sum fake scarface shit..he iz one of my favorites of all time..so I was spitting like him, but adding my nwk swagger to it..hahhahahaaha.
Royalty Magazine: Lol...Well you are definitely doing your thing! You are signed to Redman's label "GillaHouse", (along with Saukrates, Ready Roc & a few other talented artists) how did yall hook up? What can we expect to see/hear from Gilla in 2011/2012?
Runt Dawg: I knew Redman since like 1989, he used to be wit my older brother..then he got signed to DefJam and came bak to the hood and scooped us..good dude..this iz GillaHouse time..keep yall ears tuned in..pancake and syrup iz online now..we got GillaHouse album and madddd projects poppin' this year..no games!
Royalty Magazine: I can dig it! What are some of your other accomplishments?
Runt Dawg: My most major accomplishment iz making my moma proud..nothing else compares.
Royalty Magazine: That's wassup! What are some of your goals? Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?
Runt Dawg: My goal iz to stay focused, be reliable, stay pushing and in 5 years I plan to be wherever God has me..I know that as long as I'm walking in his light..ima be good..I wanna do a movie of my life..a comedy of course.
Royalty Magazine: Sounds good. A movie huh? Well that would be interesting lol. I can tell by your music that you are grimy but you are funny as well. GillaHouse nikkas be clowning, but you keep it real and that's what's up! Let me know if that movie drops..I wanna see :). Anyways, tell us...How do you feel about the current state of hiphop?
Runt Dawg: The current state of hip hop iz aimed at kidz I think..its sum dope dudes, but the majority are all fluff..can't hate how they eat tho so its all gee..I know me and my dudes got our own lane, it ain't for kiddy rappers.
Royalty Magazine: Lol true. Anything else you want to tell us? Any shot outs/comments?
Runt Dawg: Shout out to you baby..all my GillaHouse Gorillas...Redman, Readyroc, Saukrates, Dirtyface, and errbody in the bricks..the whole Seattle, my dude Eric Sermon, Keith Murray, Method man, and to my moma I love u.
Royalty Magazine: I know you're a busy dude so thank you for your time and thank you for gracing us with a front cover feature! Before I let you go, tell the people how they can follow you? What's your twitter, youtube?
Runt Dawg: My 1st rhyme..lol..I remember most of it,I was on sum fake scarface shit..he iz one of my favorites of all time..so I was spitting like him, but adding my nwk swagger to it..hahhahahaaha.
Royalty Magazine: Lol...Well you are definitely doing your thing! You are signed to Redman's label "GillaHouse", (along with Saukrates, Ready Roc & a few other talented artists) how did yall hook up? What can we expect to see/hear from Gilla in 2011/2012?
Runt Dawg: I knew Redman since like 1989, he used to be wit my older brother..then he got signed to DefJam and came bak to the hood and scooped us..good dude..this iz GillaHouse time..keep yall ears tuned in..pancake and syrup iz online now..we got GillaHouse album and madddd projects poppin' this year..no games!
Royalty Magazine: I can dig it! What are some of your other accomplishments?
Runt Dawg: My most major accomplishment iz making my moma proud..nothing else compares.
Royalty Magazine: That's wassup! What are some of your goals? Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?
Runt Dawg: My goal iz to stay focused, be reliable, stay pushing and in 5 years I plan to be wherever God has me..I know that as long as I'm walking in his light..ima be good..I wanna do a movie of my life..a comedy of course.
Royalty Magazine: Sounds good. A movie huh? Well that would be interesting lol. I can tell by your music that you are grimy but you are funny as well. GillaHouse nikkas be clowning, but you keep it real and that's what's up! Let me know if that movie drops..I wanna see :). Anyways, tell us...How do you feel about the current state of hiphop?
Runt Dawg: The current state of hip hop iz aimed at kidz I think..its sum dope dudes, but the majority are all fluff..can't hate how they eat tho so its all gee..I know me and my dudes got our own lane, it ain't for kiddy rappers.
Royalty Magazine: Lol true. Anything else you want to tell us? Any shot outs/comments?
Runt Dawg: Shout out to you baby..all my GillaHouse Gorillas...Redman, Readyroc, Saukrates, Dirtyface, and errbody in the bricks..the whole Seattle, my dude Eric Sermon, Keith Murray, Method man, and to my moma I love u.
Royalty Magazine: I know you're a busy dude so thank you for your time and thank you for gracing us with a front cover feature! Before I let you go, tell the people how they can follow you? What's your twitter, youtube?
Runt Dawg: Yall can follow me on twitter @runtdawgilla and check me on YouTube runtdawg...yezzzzzzzzur GillaHouse!!!!
Royalty Magazine: Good looking out Love! Till next time...
Courtesy of Tazzy for Royalty Magazine
Check out these videos from Runt Dawg....GillaHouse!!!!!
Hop Da Great
Royalty Magazine got a chance to recently interview Hop Da Great! Shot out to Hop for the interview. Here is how it went down...
Royalty Magazine: Tell us about Hop Da Great. What is the meaning behind your name and how did you get your start?
Hop Da Great: Pretty much I moved to a hood called High Bridge, which is located on the westside of the Bronx to be exact. I used to go by the name of "I-Hop". I knew when I entered this game it wasn't going to be a dope name...it wasn't going to really mean anything so I took the "I" off (because people in the hood still call me "I-Hop")...So I continued to run with the "Hop" thing and they just kind of added "Hop Da Great". People started seeing what kind of music I made and all the angles I was coming from...also my song subject was just dope so people were like "you are the great" because you are making "great music".
Royalty Magazine: I can dig it! Describe the feeling you felt when you first picked up the mic. What pushed you to take that chance with music?
Hop Da Great: Well it's funny because music was always in my life. My uncle (RIP), I actually got him written on my hand...his name was Doc Nice and he actually used to rap and do all that crazy stuff. It was very interesting to me as I grew up! I thought how he put words together was so dope so I kind of ended up following in his foot steps. I just wanted to rap. I didn't even know it was rap at first, that's what makes it so crazy. I didn't know what I was doing at such a young age. I started rapping young so I just followed his foot steps and knew I wanted to do this...it was a passion...it became a part of me...I just love music. I'm universal with the music too so it's not like I just listen to rap. When I'm not recording, I don't even listen to rap...I listen to other things so it kind of just fits with me. If I wasn't rapping, I would be doing something else.
When I first picked up that mic...I got booed! But as I gradually got better and better at what I do...that's when I started to be like "Oh yeah"...I'm glad that I did this because now I'm about to take over!
Royalty Magazine: Do you remember your first song? If so can you tell us what it was about?
Hop Da Great: My first song...I believe it was a love song. Yeah it was a love song to this girl that I was madly in love with. I wanted her to know that I was in love with her. I think it was called "Love Massacre" or something like that...I don't know. It was a crazy record but I don't remember too much in detail because I make hundreds and hundreds of songs. But yeah that was my first song though...it was for a female.
Royalty Magazine: Your current project is the Inventive Series Part I. Can you tell us a little bit about the concept behind this mixtape? What are some tracks to look out for?
Hop Da Great: The Inventive Series (hosted by DJ Bootleg...Slip N Slide All Day!)...good looking out for believing in me! To be honest, the Inventive Series is just me pretty much reinventing songs. Like if I was on those songs...what I would have done...what I would have said...how I would have did it. I took that approach. All my Inventive series are just going to be me doing songs over. You might hear 3-4 exclusive joints on there...but the Inventive series was made for me to recreate music that is already made, but to create it my way...how I would of did it, you know what I'm saying? It's not biting...it's just more paying homage or saying "I like that record" and I just wish I was able to get on it, you know what I mean?
Tracks to look out for...my latest project coming out "September 12, 2011" is going to be "Confidential". Confidential is a cd full of original music that I have been working on for maybe like half the summer, but it's original content that's super dope. The subject matter is a little bit more concious, but you still have your mix of party and love tracks. I'm pretty much telling a story that's kind of confidential. That project is going to be really crazy though! I'm looking forward to it. I have so much production on it and the amount of work we put on it is unbelievable! Just look out for it on www.whoishop.com/ It's going to be serious...it's also going to be a free download and then eventually it's going to go to I-tunes.
Royalty Magazine: You also have an array of videos such as Motivated, I got a plugg, World is mine, etc. What are some of your other videos and where can people check them out?
Hop Da Great: Well on the video tip...I'm a Monster...I'm a Beast. My team, we actually direct so if anybody is looking for a video...get at us...get at me because we got 'em for the low. I'm talking about low...low for like $150 because the visual to me is like everything. It's like the mixtapes in 2000...the visual is now like the mixtape. You have to have a visual to your record.
I have alot of videos that are out right now. I started out at the top of the year with "Light it up", which I did the Drake joint over (also on the Inventive). I got another video "Life of the Music" that's crazy, featuring my partner "NY" and associate I used to mess with "D Bellz". It's alot of videos...I'm just trying to hit 'em hard with the visuals, music and everything. Not just throw everything out...I'm not with that, but to give them more than what an artist would usually give them. I do this because they spend their money on this stuff...even though my stuff going to be free, you still have the option to pay for it so I want it to be quality that you can pay for...quality that you should pay for, you feel me? That's where I'm kind of going with everything...that's why there's visuals and so much going on with my music (you know what I mean in general).
Royalty Magazine: You are definately out here grinding hard...what keeps you motivated?
Hop Da Great: Everything...my kids, my mom. I didn't have it very easy growing up(which where I'm from is alot of peoples story), but what makes my story so unique is the fact that I actually know where I'm trying to go with it. I'm forseing everything...like I'm already seeing 5 years from now so I'm going in...I'm going hard. Everyday I see my momz I just want her to be in the biggest crib she could ever have. I want my kids to have the best that I never had. I don't want them to be in a shelter...I don't ever want them to go days without eating. It's stuff like that, that keeps me going and motivated.
My biggest competition is me, so I'm not really seeing nobody else! No offense to anybody else because I respect other peoples grind and what they doing. But what I'm saying is that I'm so busy doing me, I'm not even really worried about them, you know what I mean?
Royalty Magazine: Real talk...I can dig it! You are from the New York area right? New York not only has a huge amount of artists (both Underground & Mainstream) but it basically has a lot of people who are there period! How do you stay consistant with competition being so fierce out there?
Hop Da Great: Well like I said in my last answer, when it comes to competition...the only competion I really see is me because it's a battle within myself that i'm going through. A battle that I tell at a later time when it comes to music but I'm not really worried about the competition because I made my own space...my own lane for what I want to do.
That's why I started directing...me and my partner started a company called "Just add water films". I got with a bunch of producers that I knew respected my music so I'm in house everything! It's pretty much me everything so I don't really do too many features...not like that, but I'm trying to accomplish my goals and focus on me. If anybody want to be apart of my situation, I'm fine with that. I collab, but it's not like "oh I need your collab" or "you need my collab", you know what I'm saying? I'm just working and that's pretty much where I'm at because alot of people aren't working. I am a strong believer that if you work hard enough, you will get everything that you want, you feel me...plus more!
Royalty Magazine: That's true. Any advice for upcoming artists?
Hop Da Great: Yo it's alot of trickery in this game...It's alot fucked up people in this game...it's alot of bullshit in this game so you just got to do you and not sit around or wait. You can't procrastinate, you have to get up and do you. You can't worry about no one else...you can't say you waiting for him to do this or I'm waiting for my man...naw you got to say fuck ya man and go do what you do. It took me a long...long time to get to this point so I just started. Luckily I'm young so I have plenty of time, but my advice to any upcoming person is to do you and don't depend on nobody. Luckily enough I have a partner (by the name of NY) and he handles alot of my business. We are like brothers...we grew up together so it's like a trust thing there but if you out there by yourself, do your thing man. You don't have to spend hundreds...hundreds of dollars in the studio, get your own equipment so that you can go to the studio when you want. "Just do you"...that's my advice to anyone coming up in this music thing on the artist tip.
Royalty Magazine: Any comments/shot outs or last minute words?
Hop Da Great: I want to give a shot out to of course my company "MVA", all my staff members...Rumblez (VP), Don Gucci (A&R)...the best A&R that I feel I as well as my company could have. Big shot out to my partner (Mr Key to New York)! He's like the business side of me so without him there's no me and without me there's no him...Shot out to High Bridge...I do this for the BX! I do this for the people that never really had much but want alot.
I am Sir Motivation so for those that are non-motivated, get off your...you already know! While you are chilling...I'm working and while you are working, I'm working...so you playing...we working. Big shot out to DJ Bootleg (Slip N Slide). My in house producers...Shy-city music, Kid Nova, Below. Shot out to Rick Mosley (no bono film work), shot out to Fresh (Looney Bin films). Team MVA, everyone screaming "MVA"... "Most Versatile Artist", that's what we representing. Just anybody showing me love in general and anybody I may have forgot... I love you guys and without you I couldn't do this. This is ya boy Hop, "We Going to Win". That's my campaign..."We going to win!"
Royalty Magazine: What is your twitter or website? How can people stay up with you?
Hop Da Great: My twitter is @HopDaGreat Definitely hit me up on twitter...I have over 26,000 followers. I am still unsigned...I do not have no deal. I am doing this waiting for the right deal, you know what I'm saying?
Hit me up on facebook at www.Facebook.com/HopDaGreat All my shit is Hop Da Great so you can always reach me up under that. If you google "Hop Da Great", everything will pop up from reverbnation to myspace.
Now my official website is http://www.whoishop.com/ You can find all my content on that site. Everything that I've ever dropped...on the internet...viral...videos...features...everything is at www.Whoishop.com
Royalty Magazine: Thank you for your time.
Hop Da Great: No thank you because people like yall (magazines, dj's, etc.), I wouldn't get the notariety that I think I deserve. So I really thank you for even reaching out. You know I'm humble as fuck & I work hard so I hope I get to do this again and that this is not the only time.
It's ya boy Hop Da Great...check me out!
Royalty Magazine: No doubt Hop!...I look forward to doing this again. Keep us updated on your projects...keep grinding!
Courtesy of Tazzy for Royalty Magazine
And the light continues shining..
Forenzic - BIOGRAPHY
President/CEO - Get Merked Records
Wayne Mercado, Better known as Forenzic has been in the music business for about 25 years. He started out as a DJ at age 13, along with his brother and cousin. He has been intrested in learning how to produce music for the better part of his life. The music Forenzic plays as a DJ inspired him to dig deeper into the music business.
Instruments that have been given to him also inspired him to learn to produce beats and put music together. Listening to the music he played helped get his creative juices flowing. He then decided to start producing for himself to better hone his skills. In high school he started a crew with some of his friends and his cousin.
The group consisted of 1 rapper, 2 singers, and his cousin as the DJ.Forenzic produced the group.They then decided to make a name for themselves (C.A.S.H). Which stood for Cold Ass $treet Hustlerz.While working on music after school, they took time out to do little appearances here and there,trying to make a name for themselves in the music industry.
In 1995 Forenzic started publishing company named W'Nice Productions, to publish the music he was making for himself and his crew. Later on down the road Forenzic made a record company and named it Mercado Ent./Records, to not only record for himself not only for himself but for his friends and crew as well. Now in 2011 he is going strong with a new company name (Get Merked Records,LLC) Forenzic and his team are now ready to business with the big boys!
Follow Forenzic on twitter @Forenzic
