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04
DJ Samore Top 5 Countdown
05
Speakerbox music reviews
06
highly unique radio streaming data
CON TEN TS
exclusive interviews
08
nbe / rl tape
10
saakita
16
arelis
18
chico nigga
20
freezie da iceman
interviewed by ladychelle
interviewed by OC
interviewed by ladychelle
interviewed by ladychelle
interviewed by ladychelle
12
seddy hendrinx interviewed by oc
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EDITOR’S NOTE This July promises so many new doors and opportunities. First and foremost, I’d like to thank the great Oc for lending us his amazing interviewing skills this past month. Check out his exclusive chats with Seddy Hendrinx and Saakita, featured in this month’s issue and his interview with Jabari Hayes who is featured on our August cover. Also big shout out to the team as always, Hollywood, DJ Flip, DJ Samore, Empress Spade and Shameika Strickland. You guys are the real MVPs. Can’t get passed this past month’s awesomeness without thanking my mentor Kevin Shine for linking me up with Truzy, a shoe desgner in Atlanta and ultimetaly landing the magazine our frst custom shoe deal! Stay tuned for more details on that. Speaking of which, big thanks to Nuely for jumping on board for this incredible project. Speaking of thanks, big thanks to Seddy’s team at FloridaBoy and Generation Now for the opportunity to feature one of our favorite artists. I’ve followed Seddy’s journey for a while now, from when he was an independent artist grinding it out with FloridaBoy to now being a major signed artist with Generation Now & Atlantic. If I haven’t said it enough, I’m incredibly proud to witness these amazing opportunities for Seddy. He truly deserves it all. This past month didn’t only bring cheers, it also came with lessons, the biggest one learned being, not everyone deserves your energy and treat business partnerships like a marriage. Not everyone is meant to hear you say I Do, some are meant to be one night stands passing through. Hope you enjoy this issue as much as I enjoyed putting it together. Sincerely, Ladychelle
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July 2020
#DJSamoreTop5
INDIE Top 5 Mainstream music countdown, according to Mediabase, Urban Radio Charts, The streets, & DJ Samore
RODDY RICH HIGH FASHION POP SMOKE DIOR
MIKA MEANS RIGHT NOW HASAN CHRISTOPHER
ALL I NEED IS YOU KISSIE LEE X JHONNI BLAZE
IT POURS
AMERICAN WILL GO LIVE
MEG XBEYONCE
SAVAGE RMX
JHONNI BLAZE YEA
TRAP BECKHAM
DRAKE TOOSIE SLIDE
BACK IT UP
ZONNIQUE FTCU
CHRIS BROWN GO CRAZY
SHONTE RENEE PRETTY GIRLS
RAPPER YDD RENTALS
SAUVENCHY
I DON’T WANT IT
TRACKS Migos x NBA Need It Chloe x Halle Do It
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Neyo x Jeremih
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Submit your music for review fordentmagazine@gmail.com
NBE SOMEHOW IT WAS He kept the same tone throughout the song like he was trying to get thru the verses. But overall a good song to vibe to. -Empress Spade
The piano undertone will give you familiar feel of the 2000s laid-back vibe. With a simple whimsical beat, the background features snaps and alternates with a base in the snare to inspire head-nodding. This track gives feels of a late night drink or smoke in the studio or room writing rhymes. The lyrics are simpe enoughto relate to, regardless the walk of life. -Michael Davis
The beat may start off boring with a very laidback vibe, something you can ride to late night or simply just vibe to. Although the tone is petitive, the lyrics are passable but needs more energy. Overall it’s an ok song. -DJ Flip
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TMIKE CAN’T STOP ME
Miami
Average Listener Sessions by Day of Week
Highly Unique Radio June 2020 Streaming Data
Day of the week
Listener Sessions
Top 10 Us Markets
US Market
Listener Sessions
Miami/Ft Lauderdale
5,060
Sunday
850
Los Angeles
1,460
Monday
1,410
Atlanta
900
Tuesday
1,060
Washington , D.C
710
Wednesday
450
Tampa/St. Pete
290
Thursday
720
New York
270
Friday
570
Tulsa
160
Saturday
1,140
Norfolk
80
Rochester, NY
70
Top 10 International Cities City
Listener Sessions
Portmore
1,300
Toronto
700
Scarborough
600
Kingston
500
Rotherham
100
Portsmouth
100
Listener Sessions
Sunday
19,400
Monday
26,600
Tuesday
7,600
Wednesday
10,600
Thursday
7,100
Friday
8,900
Saturday
16,500
Top 10 International Cities City
Countries
Listener Sessions
Mississauga
1,700
Dublin
400
Saiwaicho
400
Kawaguchi
200
Manchester
200
Olanu
200
Listener Sessions
Germany
16,500
United States
11,070
Jamaica
1,800
Canada
130
United Kingdom
20
Atlanta
Average Listener Sessions by Day of Week Day of the week
Top 10 Countries
Top 10 Us Markets
US Market
Listener Sessions
Miami/Ft Lauderdale
279,900
Little Rock/Pine Bluff
12,500
Raleigh
8,400
Washington , D.C
6,700
Charlotte
5,600
Los Angeles
4,600
Chattanooga
4,500
New York
4,400
Chicago
400
Top 10 Countries Countries United States
Listener Sessions 426,600
Canada
2,100
United Kingdom
1,400
Japan
900
Germany
800
One listener session is defined as one connected stream. Please note that one listener can establish multiple sessions during a given time span due to either refreshing the player page, reconnecting after a netwaork timeout, or rejoining the terrestrial stream after an online ad break.
Streaming Data
Atlanta
RL Tape Life & NBE
I’m here with RL, you have such an R&B name... Coz I’m an R&B cat Is that your specialty? You’re an R&B singer or are you a rapper? I’m a soulful singer. I’m not a real r&B singer. So how would you describe your music? I would describe it as soulful, something people can relate to, something that touches people. And from what I’ve heard, your music is very versatile. Tell me some of the subjects you like to touch base on. Life, first and foremost, stuff that I’ve been through, stuff that I’ve seen, stuff that I’ve seen other people go
through, a lot of time when I write slow music, I write in the 3rd person. So it can be viewed from both sides, male or female, mutual standpoints. One of my favorite tracks that I’ve heard from you, you’re pretty much laying out your whole life story. My Life? Is that the one you’re referring to? I got a couple songs like that. But “My Life” is one of the ones that kinda goes through my timeline, stuff that I’ve gone through, experiences with my mom, dad, dad’s been incarcerated for 26 years, mom on drugs, what have you, since I was a kid. A lot of that, you’ll hear in my music. I’ve been to prison, my resume is pretty long, from college to prison, to now running and managing 3 different
companies and going to school at the same time. Some superman type shit. Where do you find the strength? What is your secret? Keep waking up and believing, and don’t stop. I’ve had plenty of opportunities to stop, but I’ve always kept going. I’ve always been the type that worked. When I want something, since I was 15, I’ve been working summer jobs to make it happen. I got a lot of mouths to feed, so not working is not an option. At what point in your personal life did you decide you wanted different for yourself? Do you remember that moment? I do actually, I was 17 years old, I got kicked out of High School, but I was far enough ahead to where I didn’t need that many credits so I kinda graduated early in a sense. But I had two kids, I was a young daddy. It forced me to accept responsibility at an early age. I was already doing a lot for myself, working two jobs, while in High School, once I found out I had 2 kids on the
way I decided to go to school to further my education. So I left when I was 17 and went away to school. And now, as you mentioned that you run 3 businesses, one of which is NBE which is your record label. NBE is my baby. NBE is in the incubator right now. As far as my first love right now, it has to be my main company which is the window tinting because that’s been the motivation and driving force behind everything else, it’s making a way for me to be able to do all the other things by sticking to that one. I started with that one and I set a goal to within 5 years have a second location, August will be 5 years and we’ve hit that goal. Staying on track and making one power the other until eventually they’ll all be working together and on the same level. Where did you learn your mindset? My mindset, I learned from my parents. Even tho my dad was incarcerated since I was 7 years old, we were still able to build a
“ My resume is pretty long, from college to prison, to now running and managing 3 different companies and going to school at the same time. Some superman type shit.
looking at self-drive, determina“ I’m tion, and motivation. You can’t step
into a situation and expect everything to be done for you at this point in the game. relationship over the phone and federal email and all that to where even he wasn’t physically there, he was still there and I took his advice and whatever he could give me, being in the situation he was in. For 23 years of his sentence, he had a life sentence with no release date, so I never knew if he would make it out and actually come back home. At any point where you ever angry at your dad? I’ve never really felt any anger towards him because I understand the situation he was in and faced with and in a sense, it helped me grow up faster and become a man earlier because I had to make sure I was able to provide for myself and my kids at an early age. Now my mom on the other hand she had me feeling some type of way at some point in time but I forgave her. Now I don’t hold nothing that they did in their lifetime against them because I feel like if I did that, then my kids could do it to me.
With a story so deep and a mindset so wise, do you bring that same passion and energy when selecting which artists to bring on board to NBE? Most definitely. The artists that we’ve brought on board as of now, they were handselected by me and Judah. He brought the initial talent to me. Burnem I met when he was like 16-17 years old, me him and Judah did a couple songs back then but I sat back and watched him elevate as an artist, 7 years later, he’s a lot more hungry and gotten a lot better. As far as the talent I saw something in him from day 1, I was a fan. Any artist I’m working with right now, I’m a fan of first and foremost. Do you have a level of standard you expect your artists to maintain? First and foremost, I’m looking at self-drive, determination, and motivation. You can’t step into a situation and expect everything to be done for you at this point in the game. They need to be focused, they need to have a passion for the music and also be outgoing and able to present themselves in a manner where they’re accepted by the public.
You gotta build your character and all that up. I’m looking for a well-rounded artist. We have a handful of artists that we’re working with and we want to have a nice selection, we’re probably going to narrow it down to a few key artists to focus on. Out of all your artists, do you feel like there’s that one artist that’s right there and just need that extra push? Right now I would say the most seasoned and ready to go I would say, Mitch Jones. The only she was missing before we started working with Mitch was a team.
Everything else she pretty much had. Running out of ammo because she was trying to do it all by herself so she got tired and was at that point where she was ready to give up. Trying to balance a 9-5 job, take care of kids, and focus on your career that’s a lot to do. How do you personally find that balance? To be honest, I be all over the place with little sleep. I’m sleep deprived right now. It’s no secret. I don’t do anything special. What I do on a day to day basis, anybody can do it.
“ Judah said “it’s no budget to success, the sky’s the limit.”
One thing I’ve noticed about you, you’re very motivational, always have a positive word. How do you find that zen? By me encouraging others, that’s what puts back into me, that’s my gas. By fueling others, I’m fueling myself. I can only get what I put out. So if I’m encouraging and motivating people to do better and uplift theirselves, then my job is done, because that’s what I’m gonna get back. You gotta speak life into people because you never know what a person is going through. I can imagine with you having such an inspiring story that you also serve as a mentor to your artists, would that be correct? Correct. It’s not my first time around in the music industry. I’ve been working with artists since
2001, 2002. The first artist I ever managed was Hott6. I started out with the management side, my college major is Business Management. 2005 I was part of the initial Rated R entertainment working with Frank Lini, after that, a couple years later I went to prison. By going away it kinda took me away from that, but I was always on the management side. Now I’m back on the artist and management side. Do you feel like the two sides will conflict at all? Being an artist and running a label? Nah because I’m gonna manage myself first and foremost, I’m building a team right now. I have a team that’s running the label, it’s not just me alone doing it. Combined effort. it’s harder trying to do it alone, as opposed to doing as a team. Now instead of coming with
just one or two power artists, I got 5. And everybody can pretty much hold their own. And NBE what does that stand for? No Budget Entertainment Tell me a little more on how you came up with that Judah and I started out during a video shoot for one of his videos, and the format of the video, as we sat back in editing it was seeming like we were shooting a movie. So I was like we might as well keep the storyline going, so hadn’t made it to the record label status yet. This was all in a matter of months, from video shoot to starting to shoot a movie, to we have a whole damn company, and people who are wanting to work with us. The No Budget, the name came from, we were making moves, and every artists’
goal is to get signed and get a deal, get a budget. So, we figured we had pretty much shot a movie trailer, and we did all that without spending one dollar. So it was done with no budget, it was all on time. So at the end of the day, Judah said “it’s no budget to success, the sky’s the limit.” So what I instill in my artists is that you determine your budget. Your drive and work ethic is what’s gonna determine if you sink or swim. Where can we check out NBE? Right now we’re on all social media sites, Nobudgetentertainment. org, they can subscribe to our website, we have a Youtube channel, we have music that are available on all platforms.
Interviewed by ladychelle IG: Fordentmag IG: Nobudgetent_
This is OC, and we have a special guest today, I’m sitting down with new upcoming artist from Houston Texas, Ms. Saakita. She’s a Hip Hop artist with quite a different style of music. I’ll let her introduce herself. Ok, I’m Saakita, I’m a music artist out of Houston, I’ve been doing music for about 6 or 7 years. In the last couple of years, I’ve really been trying to do it seriously, and I’ve just released a single this past Juneteenth called Elastic Girl. That’s my main project right now that I’m pushing.
Was there any inspiration to dropping it on Juneteenth or was that just a coincidence? Kind of a coincidence, with doing music real seriously the last couple of years, you research things, and I realized that Fridays are a good day to release music and singles, so that’s the date we came up with. Not really a significance relating to Juneteenth, it was just a good day to release music.
I read in your Bio that you’re the CEO of your own record label, Green Ok, so you say you just Goddess Entertainment dropped a single, Elastic Girl, Consulting & Marketing, what was the inspiration tell the readers how you behind Elastic Girl. started this firm and what I’m not sure if you’re aware, made you want to do that. but Elastic Girl is a female Green Goddess, is originally superhero. So myself and a a name I came up with a buddy of mines I work with few years back, I wanted from time to time, we were to find a name and it kinda trying to be creative and we had a ring to it. I came up came up with a concept. Why with the music label back in not Elastic Girl? Female super- late 2018. Now I have a few heroes, some of the verses in resources, I wanted to emthe song correlates to a strong power myself and some infemale so that’s what we went dividuals that have been in with, that’s what we came up my circle, and I learned that with. it was the right way to go. And I also created a studio, I have a home studio and I’m able to release music and record a lot faster than I have in the past. Initially, when I started music, I went through a lot with trying to get in studios and trying to depend on people and this feels better, this feels good and I have a little bit more power.
Introducing
S A A K I TA With you facing all the hardship in the music industry and getting into the game, what percentage would you say relates to you being a woman if any? You know, I think a small percentage, 30-40 percent, maybe 50. I feel like being a woman in a male-dominated industry, you certainly gotta prove yourself, and prove that you have some talent, then there’s a part that comes with being marketable. You put all that together, and if you can present it and you can get some people to believe in you, it can materialize. But by all means, being a female artist, being in the city of Houston, it’s competitive. There are a
lot of women that’s rapping especially now, everybody is sharpening their craft, everybody is making some noise, especially after Lizzo and Megan The Stallion, which at the same time creates a bit of opportunity as well. With Houston being home of Female rappers like Megan The Stallion, reading your bio, I saw that you were inspired by the Queen Latifahs, MC Lites, the more conscious rappers if you will, how would you say their styles reflect in your music compared to the type of music Meg The Stallion releases?
Certainly no disrespect to Megan, there’s certainly an audience for her type of music, but how my music compares to the greats before me, Lauren Hill, Foxy Brown, Queen Latifah is that every single song that I write and record, I want it to have a really good strong message. I do a little trashtalking, but I like a strong message, I want people to know that if I can trash talk, at the same time I can bring some bars. I want to have a message.
Interviewed by OC IG: OC_Vibez IG: Saakita
SEDDY HENDRINX
The relationship I have with FloridaBoy, it’s family, it’s kinda self-explanatory. It’s the glue, it’s the backbone to everything I’m doing right now... FloridaBoy is me.
Peace to the people, I got my man’s Seddy Hendrinx with me. Tell the people just a little bit about who you are and where you’re from. My name is Seddy Hendrinx, I’m from Jacksonville, Fl. Duval County, 904, and I do music. I know you started out with FloridaBoy, tell us a little bit more about that. FloridaBoy is the label that my uncle had up and running, but then he got with me and we revived it and brought it back to life. The relationship I have with Florida, it’s family, it’s kinda self-explanatory. It’s the glue, it’s the backbone to everything I’m doing right now. Even tho I’m with Atlantic right now, I have FloridaBoy still. FloridaBoy played a big role in my life when it comes to the music, the way I live my life o utside of music, certain circumstances I got into in music, yea, FloridaBoy is me. You mentioned you’re signed to Atlantic and GenerationNow, how’s that journey like now? How’s that lifestyle you’re living?
So far so good, just sticking and moving with it. Just taking it how it goes, not really trying to embrace it all the way right now, just taking it in bits and pieces. It’s kinda been like a level up from what I was already doing with FloridaBoy, just more people, and a bigger machine. You think it’s gonna be hard to not take on that “that industry look” as it reflects in your music and art that you put out? Nah, I feel like if I keep the same motive I had before I got all the attention because the main thing was to get everybody’s attention, not change the way I move once I got everybody’s attention. Tell me a little bit about your lifestyle before your journey into the mainstream. What was it like getting it out the mud? It was treacherous, I just had to stick and move, I did certain things that I had to do, certain things I didn’t want to do, but I had to do what I had to do, but it was treacherous, it was pain, it was happy, it was all of it in one. And I imagine it reflects in your music? Yea, a lot, that’s why a lot of my music is, you get a lot of storytelling, jewels, not lies, actual
BHD Now Streaming on All Platforms
true stories of what I’ve been through, I do a lot of soulful reality music. You went on tour with Wiz Khalifa recently, what was that like? That was actually a great experience. With Wiz, Drama, French Montana, and Moneybagg Yo. It was a great experience actually. What was it like? I know DJ Drama helped you get into a lot of the things you’re into now, what was it like pairing up with him and building that relationship? Getting with Drama was a milestone completed. Because
...you get alot of story telling, jewels, not lies, actual true stories of what I’ve been through, I do alot of soulfoul reality music.
so far it’s everything I wanted to be. I knew getting with a DJ Like that, everybody’s gonna wanna hear it, everybody’s gonna see it. So far working with him has been a dream come true. Are there any projects you’re wanting to do that he’s like..wait on that? The thing with Drama is, I can drop music at any time. We got some on the way, Seddycation...we’ll see what happens. You were also on Future’s mixtape, 1800
seconds Volume 2, what was it like getting picked for that? Another milestone completed, everything is just a way to expose my platform, even more, to get my message across. It was fun, I met new people, gained new friends, in the end, it felt like I met a whole new family. With you being conscious, how is it navigating through the game as far as who’s real and who’s fake? Is that a hard thing to do, or do you go where the money goes? Nah, it’s 50/50. Some people know how to play their roles. That’s where it comes to the point of how spiritual I am, and if I feed off their energies or not. But the money is always gon be there, I don’t ever look for that. It’s gon come regardless. If I’m searching for that I’m gon be lost. If you could do any project with any artist, dead or alive, who would it be? Top 3. Dead or Alive, Tupac, Michael Jackson and a whole tape, just me and him, Andre 3000.
What type of project would you do with Michael Jackson? That’s an interesting pick. Some soulful pop, that’d be fye. What is one piece of knowledge that you’ve picked up on your way so far that you feel like has helped you in your career? Realizing that the music industry is the furthest thing from the streets, and take all of my feelings out of it. If you just shake hands and smile, just keep it like that. Just really keep it moving in this game, you lock on who you lock on to, take your feelings out of it, with everything. Have you turned down any project opportunities that you wish you wouldn’t have? No, anything I’ve ever turned down wasn’t for me. What is the one thing that you would have done differently that you feel like, might have gotten you further than you are now? Everything right now, brick by brick mental-
BHD was just me putting out my pain, and art and everything, things I’m going through, demons I’m fighting, drug abuse, the pain, everything just in one.
ity. If there was something else that I could be doing to make my career go crazy, I’d be doing it. So you don’t go for the viral hits or nothing like that? Hell nah, I ain’t never been that one. Let’s talk about BHD a little bit. What inspired you to come up with this project? Black Hearted Demon, someone had come up and was like, ok you put out Roots II, you’re leaving behind a legacy, you gotta treat these tapes like your kids, stuff gotta mean something. So, Roots II came about then Black Hearted demon, with Root II, it’s just me, I’m screaming for y’all to listen to me. BHD was just me putting out my pain, and art and everything, things I’m going through, demons I’m fighting, drug abuse, the pain, everything just in one. And still, give y’all a little turn-up, BHD was just me letting y’all know I’m the same way, still relatable, still fighting battles. And I ain’t wanna give 12, 13 tracks of that, so 6 was just the reasoning, short, small and to the point.
Everything right now, brick by brick mentality.
Interviewed by OC IG: OC_Vibez IG: SeddyHendrinx
Beauty of the month
RIA RACQUEL SERVICE Riarania
Catching up with We met what seems like ages ago, you were first starting on the scene, and introducing yourself to the music world, how do you feel now, a couple years later? Catch us up. It’s been great, the experience has been great, we’ve been working on a lot of things. I’ve got a lot of songs that I’m working on currently, dropped my first single officially “Get Low”, we did the music video for that one. But this whole quarantined thing kinda slowed us down, we wanted to do something right after, but we did recently record a video for
ARELIS
my track called “making moves.” I saw that, in a boxing ring? Getting your Layla Ali on? Yes, you know you had to go in there and do my thing, so it looked like I know how to get in there and do my thing. Honestly, it was a great experience, I actually want to continue boxing training, it was a lot of fun. So we did that, and we’ll be releasing that soon within the next few weeks or so. Now we’re gonna start working on something else, I have a Spanish track too, so you
know, we’ve been doing a lot, we’ve been kinda moving in silence. But we’ve been traveling, I’ve done a few shows out in Georgia, I’ve traveled to New York, I just got back from California, we definitely linked up with some people in the music industry and got some really good connections and some good things going from it. It’s truly been a blessing, the traveling has been great, I’ve met a lot of great people along the way.
Do the subject lines also differ? Not really, some of them do. I have some really sexy type of songs, I have some rapping songs where I’m really going in with the Spanish rap. I got a little bit of everything, that versatility where I’m able to do different things.
What have you been doing during the quarantine, besides working on music? I’ve been hitting the gym. Even with personal trainers, and before the gyms opened I’ve been going to the park, running, using my own stuff. Ever since quarantine started, I started working out, and it’s been great. But other than that, really just focused on my personal life, staying afloat, and working on music. I’m working on a whole Spanish project, and the next music we’re doing, it’s a really good song, so look out for that one.
Besides music, and dropping videos, is there anything else that interests you as an artist? Everything, honestly, modeling, acting. I would love to get into some acting.
Would you say as a bilingual artist, that your Spanish projects flow together with your English ones? Or would you say they are completely different sounds? Completely different, I’m gonna be honest with you, you hear me singing in Spanish and then sing in English, won’t even know I’m the same person. My voice is very different.
You’re kinda like a quadruple threat. Singing, Rapping, Spanish, and English. I guess you could say that, yeah.
What role would you try to play? Anything, I can be the funny silly retarded person, or I can be the serious tomb raider type chick. I’m open to anything that comes my way whether its modeling or acting, whatever comes with it. It’s one thing I try to show in my music videos, the fact that I’m able to do a little bit of acting. Even the music video for “Get Low”, we have a long version with comedian Josh Pray and it’s funny as hell and we do a little acting in the beginning, it’s funny, it kinds of all comes together then we have the regular short version of the video. I know with “Get Low”, you did a lot campaigning for that, it was all over the place, you did a lot of
performing, tell me about this track and how it did. I would say I hoped it would have done better, I got a lot of good feedback on it, we did the music video, we put it out there, we got a nice little pop, then it just kinda you know, then again it’s so much going on with everything going around us, and we wanted to follow through with, but we kinda got delayed. But we’re working on having 4 tracks out soon, almost back to back to back. With a lot of the major artists not being able to tour and perform, do you feel like they’re out of the way and it opens a new lane for independent artists, or do you feel like it doesn’t make a difference? I think it makes a difference for independent
artists, especially right now with a lot of people being at home, if you’re posting things, and you’re streaming them on the internet,, right now is the time. People are looking for something to do, something to listen to, everyone’s home. Even they’re sitting at home, you could have somebody big sitting at home and you pop up on their timeline and they’re like “man, who’s this person”. I definitely think it opens possibilities and opportunities for people. I can see that. But I believe they’re grinding right now, just like I’m grinding right now, writing music getting stuff together so when the time comes we can boom. So, I know they’re working. Everybody is kinda taking this time to work in silence.
Not to get too political, but I know that you’ve been pretty vocal about the things going on in the world right now, I also saw you at a march recently, can you speak on that? The way I grew up, I’ve never seen color, everybody is the same, that’s how I was raised. My children are mixed, I have to stand up for that, it’s only right. I believe in equal rights for everybody. And I’ma stand up for that, and I’m gonna show my kids that they have to stand for that too. I have to be that role model for them. If we don’t all stand together, if we don’t come together as one, we’re the ones who are going to tear each other apart. Is that something you touch on in your music? Absolutely, I actually have something I’ve been writ-
ing. I read about the things going on around my life, and the things I’m feeling and experiencing, so when I’m affected about something, or feeling a certain type of way about something, that’s what I’m gonna write about. That’s how I relieve myself in my music. Definitely, you’ll get some of that too. it’s just more personal when you get to write about what you’re feeling and what you’re going through. Where can we find your music, where can we stay tuned to your new videos? Instagram is where you definitely want to follow me: IamArelisOfficial. You can find my song Get Low on all the major streaming platforms.
Interview by Ladychelle IG: Fordentmag IG: IamArelisofficial
We are on the line with Freezie Da Iceman, first, tell me a little about your name and how it came about. The name Freezie, I’ve had since I was 15 years old. I always had a fascination with jewelry and shiny things, and as I got older, I changed it to Freezie da Iceman to separate myself since I already had the name Freezie, but long story short, the name is Freezie Da Iceman because I’m a cold guy. Simple. Cold with the lyrics, cold with the dressing, cold with the idea of how I’m gonna take over this rap industry when I get my chance at it.
You mentioned before that you have your own studio, do you also engineer your own songs? No, I don’t engineer my own sound, but I do have a studio, and we have interns just as well as a list of engineers, depending on what your budget is. So even tho I have my own studio, I still pay for mixing. It’s just a little bit easier because now I don’t have to pay for studio time. Having your own studio, I can imagine that you’re in there all the time, do you ever take a break and focus on other things? The studio came about as a business tactic, as far as working with different artists, you’ll have all types of artists come through
Speaking of which, music is not just about talent, it also requires a lot of business, do you do all that yourself or do you have a solid tea, who handles all that for you? I’m building as a speak right now. The business is like a game, its meant to be sold, not to be told, so I made a lot of mistakes on this road where I’m going, and I won’t call them mistakes but lessons. You have to have people around with the same visions as you and on the same page. It’s not about the money, but the people around me have to be able to see that everything will pay off eventually. But right now, it’s just me. I have people I associate with but it’s not a team yet. You’ve mentioned before that you wanted to just flood your catalog with music, so that you would have plenty of music stacked up for when you reach a certain level, but what is that level you’re aiming for? I’m trying to make the right decisions and investments to not have to rap forever when I do get a chance, when a person gets a whiff of me, I’m gonna have enough music for them to be entertained. There won’t be any questions about what’s next. Me working is me being the person that I am. Because say someone hears one of my tracks, I’ll have enough music for them for at least an hour that’ll leave them wondering why they’ve
never heard of this guy. But that’s what having a catalog comes in at. I wanna be prepared. Do you feel like you’ll get to a point where you say, I have enough music stacked up, let me focus on other things. And what would that other thing be if you did that? It would be businessrelated, building a relationship, pretty much transition from where I’m at into a different level if anything. To have so much music and not release them is what I’m going through already. Any song that I put out is a hit already, its just crazy that I feel that way and just can’t get the world to tune in. I just wanna be everywhere even tho I’m in Dade county, I wanna be everywhere when it comes down to it. Besides music, do you have any other passions that you’re pursuing? I like family time, I like fishing, but if it’s something like a passion, I really don’t have a passion for a lot of things besides this music, I can’t think of anything off the top of my head, I’m not into cars, I like fancy things but its not so big that, that’s what it’s about. I’m more about my family, I want to make sure my family’s good. My mother my father, my siblings, even my friends who support and so what they do for me. I just want to make sure I’m here to be beneficial, even if nothing else comes out of it. Just being the guy who can pull you out of a tight spot if that’s the case.
Interview by Ladychelle IG: Fordentmag IG: FreeziedaIceman
FREEZIE DA ICEMAN
Does that translate into your life as well, would you say you’re a cold person? No, but if I need to be. Freezie is just a character that I created for what I’m trying to do and get at, but at the same time, I’m a family person at the end of the day.
the studio because they need studio time but it wasn’t just for me. I still go to other studios, the studio is just a tactic to be able to network with other artists, and also make money on the back end.
Chico Nigga “The Name Speaks For Itself” It’s your girl LadyChelle with Ford entertainment Magazine, and every time I say your name, I always giggle a little. Introduce yourself Chico Nigga Chico Nigga, it speaks for itself. Tell me how and when you came up with that, is that a nickname you grew up with or is that something you picked out when you decided to rap? Actually nah, one of my friends was locked up, he gave me the name. And everybody ran with it. Do you ever run into any kind of smoke in regards to the name? Nah not really, coz it’s a lot of chicos but not a lot of Chico Niggas. A lot of people back in the day used to call me City, but majority of people call me Chico Nigga. Tell me when Chico Nigga the rapper got started Really a few years ago. I’ve been rapping for years when I was in middle school, I had my own studio and stuff, but to be honest, what really crunk me up was YoBaby, he took me to the studio one night, and ever since then, we’ve been on go.
Had you been writing beforehand? To be honest, I used to rap every now and then, but from there, everybody was like “bruh you still got it, why won’t you take it serious?” How long ago was that? I wanna say about 2 years ago. Since then what you’ve been up to? I know I have seen you on every flyer, you’re doing every show and house parties... To be honest, it started off at Truth Lounge and Hush on Mondays, they were booking us like crazy, me and John Doe, but everybody seen my vibe, and they loved my vibe, how I come in and turn up and chill, and throw money. Tell me as an artist, we had a prior conversation on how you do the behind the scenes yourself, do you find it hard to balance the two? The business and being an artist? Yea, coz sometimes you don’t have enough time and you got a lot of things on your plate, and you need the extra help. Because me doing it and having time to do it, sometimes it catches up with you.
It’s also important, because there’s no point in creating the music and nothing happens with it. Yea, that’s the thing. Coz if it was up to me, I’d be in the studio every night. So is music more so something you enjoy making or is it therapeutic for you? I ain’t gon lie, the best time to write my music is when I’m expressing my emotions and thoughts, and sometimes I do it as a hobby and have fun with it. It’s ok to take it serious, but sometimes you just wanna go in there have fun with it. Do you set time aside to write music, or do you start writing whenever that flow comes to you randomly? Sometimes I gotta be in mode, in my feelings. It could be early in the morning, I be like “I’m fresh I need to write some music”, or it could be like “damn I’m angry as hell, let me go write some music.” But it ain’t like ok, it’s 7 o’clock I finna start writing music. I don’t set no time or date. It’s all on how I be feeling. What is your goal ultimately with music? Putting my city on the map, taking my music across the world. I know a lot of people of different races vibe with my music. I know I can take it further than just Florida.
You say you have fans from different races, and in listening to your lyrics, would you say it’s because people are able to relate to your story? A lot of people can feel where I’m coming from. They definitely feel where I’m coming from. Describe your typical fan. Someone who made it thru the struggle and got it on their own. So it’s that grinding music, that get it out the mud music? Get it out the mud, get it out the trap. At what point would you feel like, damn I’ve made it with my music. When I got to another city and hear somebody playing my music How do you think you’ll achieve that? Making good music, keep pushing it, stay motivated, don’t let up. Do you follow trends with your music? The current waves? I feel like music is creativity. You create your own waves, create your own vibe, you create your own music. So I try to find my own lane. I try to set my own trends. You wanna be your own man. You mentioned earlier, that you make that grinding music, which relates to street life, would you say the street life compares at all to the music business?
Not a lot of niggas that rap live that life they are rapping about. So you really can’t compare them to real life. How do feel about that? Do you feel like people are allowed to be as creative as possible? They’re being real creative, but they ain’t really speaking about stuff they really living bout. Coming from where I’m from, if you’re not rapping bout what you’re really about, ain’t nobody gonna wanna listen to it. Or they gon pick at you, people really wanna see if you’re really about what you’re rapping about. Do you feel like there’s more pressure in Ft Myers for rappers to be authentic, or do you feel like they let a lot of people get away with too much? There’s a lot of pressure. Me being me, a lot of people knew me from the streets before I did music, they knew me from getting that money so they can relate, they know I’m getting it for real and when I rap about it they can relate. Tell us about any new projects you got coming up, I know you dropped “Running Bands” last month, it’s a hype song, it gets you crunk a little bit. Running Bands is one of my favorites, it’s like motivation, people send me snaps all the time of them vibin to it. How do you feel about that? I know I made a hit. I
know if they can ride with it, I know I can make more music they can vibe with.
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Tell me how that track came about I ain’t gon lie, that’s one of the quickest songs I even laid down. I was at Studio 500, I wrote it so fast, I was at my house. I knew it was a hit because of how fast I wrote it. And then one day we had extra studio time, like 30 minutes, I told HD all I needed was 20minutes to drop the song, I got it on the first take. So when I did that I knew the streets were gonna vibe with it. What’s next? I got to projects coming up. I got a project with John Doe, called Nobody’s safe, we got a whole mixtape dropping. And after that, I got a mixtape called Street Dispensary that I’m working on now. It’s that pressure. And are you solo on that? I got a lot of features, I did a lot of people’s beats over like one of those mixtapes. Do you feel like the one’s you remade, do you feel like you killed it over the original? I swear to God I did.
Interview by Ladychelle IG: Fordentmag IG: 239chiconigga
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I try to find my own lane. I try to set my own trends. You wanna be your own man.
Efforts To Change Prison Sentences Failed In Florida’s Capitol
More than five bills on the topic of reforming Florida’s prisons sat unheard as Florida’s Legislature finishes its work in the Capitol. They included changing the mandatory minimum length of someone’s prison term from 85% to 65% of their sentence, revising criminal sentencing requirements, establishing conviction integrity review units, reforming the treatment of prison inmates and ensuring that lawmakers can talk to inmates during prison visits. Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, a Republican who is president of the Florida Sheriffs Association, said mandatory minimums should not be changed. He said
people have a false perception about the number of violent offenders and types of criminals in prisons in Florida. “The system is not broken and doesn’t need to be fixed,” Gualtieri said. He criticized some proposals as “let the bad guys out of jail.” Rep. Dianne Hart, D-Tampa, said she was appalled the House didn’t vote on changing mass incarceration policies. She noted support from Republicans, such as Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, who sponsored a bill for sentencing reforms. “It’s disheartening,” Hart said. “But we will keep on fighting. I have no intention of stopping.”
The lack of headway came during a year when Florida’s prisons — housing nearly 100,000 inmates – were under fire amid allegations of excessive abuse against prisoners, understaffed and overworked guards and poor living conditions. A legislative study last year said Florida could save $860 million over five years by reducing prison terms for non-violent offenders. Brandes, vice chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, said there was no broad vision for criminal justice in Florida. He urged Republicans in the House to cast a “bolder vision” on the subject. “We need champions to rise up in the Florida House, specifically in the majority party,” Brandes said. Criminal justice reform is not a priority in Tallahassee, especially in the House, agreed Sen. Randolph Bracy, D-Orlando.
“Whether the House agrees with our perspective or not, we can’t continue down the road of mass incarceration,” he said. Kim Lawrance of Winter Haven, an activist whose 19-year-old daughter is serving 10 years on a robbery charge in Florida’s system, was frustrated at the lack of voting on the issue. She said it’s difficult telling those who are or have loved ones behind bars that their future looks bleak. “People inside are waiting for some kind of break, especially when you’re doing good,” she said. “You’re trying to make up for what you did and you’re still punished. It’s a bad message. It’s heartbreaking.” This story was produced by Fresh Take Florida, a news service of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. The reporter Dana Cassidy can be reached at dcassidy@freshtakeflorida.com