Illuminati 2G

Illuminati 2G chilled with Prince Culture for this exclusive interview. The NY MC is a throwback, a MC passionate about his lyrics and the hip hop music that is digested by the masses. His music is heavy on rhymes with substance and we discuss that in this interview, his thoughts on the state of hip hop, his new mixtape, which I urge everyone to check out at www.ontoprecs.com for free download and much more. Check it out.

Illuminati 2G is here with Prince Culture how's it going?

Not bad how are you?

Good. Tell me a little bit about how you got your start in hip hop and who are some of your musical influences out there.

I started out in hip hop at a young age, I was basically influences by my parents, they were in music. My mother was into vinyl, my father actually played a couple of instruments. Really it was a escape for me, it was a escape from the realities of things that were going on and it kept me busy. As I came up, I listen to alot of Eric B. & Rakim, Big Daddy Kane. Those are like the artists that gave me a good start and really showed me what hip hop was about. I moved on to artists such as Nas, The Punisher (Big Pun) who is one of my all time favorites, Notorious B.I.G. and basically those are a couple of my favorite artists.

How did you come up with the name Prince Culture for yourself?

Well basically I came up with the name Prince Culture, that had originally started as just Culture. When I think about hip hop, I think about it as a movement. As a culture within itself, so basically I wanted to take a name and I wanted to use a name that had meaning to how I felt about hip hop. I always felt like I was a artist that tried to preserve the culture and try to express the meaning of hip hop through what it meant to me. One day I was actually kicking it with my younger brother and he was like the name Culture is cool, I like and I understand where you are going with it, but I think it needs something else. To give it more swagger and to make it more upbeat. So he just started calling me Prince Culture, and basically it just stuck.

Tell me a little bit about your mixtape that you have on your MySpace page Quality Vs. Quantity.

That was a mixtape that I put together with J Holla. Basically he is the CEO of OnTopRecords. We were working on the album at the time and we just thought that we needed something to put out while we were working on the album. It's a short version of...., it's giving people a preview of what they are about to witness from the album. It is a little on the short side, but what we did was try to make everything as powerful and as potent and give people as much substance as we could. That is why we named it Quality Vs. Quantity because I always felt like alot of times certain artists may put out a album with 15, 20, 25 songs but maybe half of the songs have substance. So I try to make something where it was listenable straight through and although it was short you keep the fans and the listeners attention. That is how Quality Vs. Quantity came about. I always try to make music that is more about quality more than just making a song just to make it.

Do you have any albums that you are currently working on releasing in the near future or anything that you dropped recently?

The first album is actually up now and it is called The Answer. It is on On Top Records website, which is www.ontoprecs.com. You can hear the album there and we are currently working on the second project now which is so far it is untitled. We don't have a name for it as of yet, but we are constantly in the studio trying to come up with new ideas, new songs and laying things down.

Is there any details that you can give about The Answer?

Definitely. On the album we have gentleman by the name of Cobain, which he is featured along with a female, her name is MiMi, she is a great R&B singer. The whole album is produced by J. Holla, which is the CEO of On Top Records. He produced most of the album, and I myself I do a little bit of production so I produced 2 tracks to add also the album. We were pretty light on features being that it is my first project. I tried to give everybody a taste of just myself. Besides Cobain and MiMi, that was really the only features that we had on the album. I titled the album The Answer because it was kinda like with true hip hop fans, it is something that they are looking for.

Once again I go with having substance, making music with a meaning, making music with a message. That is why I call it The Answer because I fell like it is the answer to what alot of people are looking for when they say what happened to hip hop, is hip hop dead? Where does hip hop lie? Is hip hop in a state of emergency? There are all these questions that people have when it comes to hip hop and when it comes to music so that is the reason why I titled it that. Because I feel to many different generations within hip hop, there is going to be a song or something that the consumer can relate to when they listen to the album. I feel like there is something on there for everybody.

That leads right into my next question. What are your thoughts right now on the state of hip hop? You happy with the music that is out, do you think that it is alot of BS that is out? Just your personal thoughts.

My personal opinion I think that there is alot of BS. I think that hip hop is probably in a place where the pioneers did not expect it, and I do not think this is where they wanted it to be at. I feel like it has laxed in alot of different ways and it has become sort of like a marketing engine. That is based more on money and currency then it is on skill. In my opinion I just feel like there is alot of artists out that really don't bring much to the table. I think there is definitely further that we can go as far as music. We are all capable of so much more. When I say the artists that are out now, I am not saying that they are not talented, but I just think in many ways they are shortchanging the people that are listening and buying. I also think that in a certain way that the music that is out now and is getting radio play is also and can be misleading to the youth. Because they do not have the blueprints of the earlier artists before.

That is some real talk. Just wanted to do a quick word association with you. I will throw a topic or idea out there, first thing that comes to your mind, could be one word or whatever comes to your mind. First thing is New York Hip Hop.

Definitely I would say a state of emergency. But slowly on the come up. Coming back to where it used to be, especially since hip hop originated in NYC, I see eventually it will have to come back home and I think it will slowly get there. Hopefully we will see it soon.

Prince Culture

Artist that loves hip hop music since day one, knows nothing else but hip hop, makes music with substance and a message behind it. Everything is about having fun and having a positive outlook at the end of the day when it is all said and done.

Greatest MC dead or alive

Notorious B.I.G.

Favorite track that you have ever recorded. Could be on a album, could be on a upcoming album, could be on a mixtape. Your favorite track that you have done so far.

It would have to be Reflections, which is on The Answer. The reason why the track has so much meaning to me is because I actually made the song at a time when I was down and out. Also I had a close friend that his daughter was sick at the time and she overcame the sickness that she was going through. So when I made the song, there was so much tension and anger behind it, and to overcome everything that I was going through at that time and hear it and listen to it, it really had a impact on me.

Where you see yourself in 3 years.

Definitely on tour, hopefully successful selling albums, but also I would definitely say that I would see myself as a businessman. I am also taking on my loved ones and my family around me and putting them in good positions because alot of this is what it means to me. It is about creating a good position for myself so that I can create a even better position for others and everyone else that is in my circle.

What is your website or myspace information for people looking to check out your music?

www.myspace.com/princeculture.

Do you have any upcoming shows or tour dates or anything that you want to let the people know about?

Right now we are doing the Open Mic shows here in MYC. Pretty much every week or every other week I am at the Pyramid. We are still trying to set up whatever we can. We are going to do a show in Harlem in June so really that is the only thing that I have set up right now.

Alright well that is all the questions that I have for you, appreciate you getting down for the interview. Is there any last words or shoutouts that you want to get out there to the people?

Definitely got to give a shoutout to J Holla, On Top Records, much love to everybody at Illuminati 2G. Thank you to you and your whole staff for having me. Just all the true fans that love hip hop, and keep the music alive.

Appreciate the interview

Alright have a good one.