Prophit Interview: SXSW 2010

Queens-born rapper Prophit, is working on his first album, 'Welcome Home,' to be released in the summer of 2010. After years of making music and working with other artists, this current success is not lost on the young rapper -- it definitely feels like he is unleashing his music at the perfect time. Spinner caught up with Prophit in New York, where he talked about his influences, the type of music he wants to make and what he learned from working behind the scenes in the music industry. Prophit will be playing at SXSW for the first time in March.

How did you pick your name?

My name kind of chose itself. I was going through a rough phase growing up in NY, dealing with being a teenager and doing wild stuff in the street, being a thug and stuff like that. At that time, my brother was going through a transformation, one day we were in the kitchen and he told me he could see things that were going to happen to us, he said he felt like a prophet. I looked at him and just laughed. But when it came time for me to go through the same things, when I started changing my life around and seeing the same things he was seeing it all made sense and I decided to take up that name, Prophit.

How did you get started doing music?

I've been writing music for 10 years, I'm 22 now but I started very young rapping to keep out of trouble. Professionally I have doing it for a year and a half, but I have been behind the scenes in the industry for about 5 years doing A&R , management and things like that for a record label. I never really thought I could do it seriously because I know how the industry works, I've seen how new artists are treated. So when it came time for me to take it seriously and management took me up on it, I felt good because in general people just take your music and destroy it, they don't normally support your ideas. But being a young kid with the chance of working behind the scenes was a great opportunity. I was learning so much about the industry and I said from the beginning I will not just let get these guys take my stuff and try to take advantage of me and not care about what I want. My mentors were always industry veterans who were very hands on with their artists and that gave me confidence. I decided early on if I'm going to do this I'll do it on my own terms and that is what I'm doing now.

How would you describe your sound?

My sound is changing a lot right now. I want to make something that fuses everything that I love into one. I want my sound to be identified with me, I hope they can say: yeah, that's Prophit. I want a little bit of hip-hop, a little bit of metal, electro, pop, ambient music, everything fused into one. I don't want to be in one genre, just want to be an artist. You can't really put someone like Buckley for example in just one genre, so I want to make something like that. I want to keep the underground respect but infuse it with pop sensibilities; I am making music I feel is for everyone. Radio today sucks because they try to fit everyone into one box, but I think they are starting to take notice of new artists, like for example Kid Cudi. Artists that don't stick to one game plan, and they are starting to play it because people like it. So I will keep on doing music that is me. New artists are not going to make music based only on the same old pop formula; I think it is a good time for me because a lot of artists are changing that.

What are your musical influences?

My biggest influence is Daryl Palumbo from the band Glassjaw, he is my all-time favorite musician, thought me how write lyrics and, how to express myself. Also Nas, Sade, Jeff Buckley. Buckley could really reach into your soul with his voice.

What is your musical guilty pleasure?

I love Christian Metal-Core, I don't know why. It is like a mix of Metal and hardcore music but played by Christian bands. I don't know why I'm so crazy about Christian bands, but they speak to me. While I was growing up I listened a lot to UnderOath and other bands from the Solid State records label, they specialized on Christian hard core and metal. I'm not really a religious dude but I like their message, it is all positive stuff.

Beatles or Stones?

To be honest, I have never been a big fan of either. My dad was a blues musician but he stopped playing when we were born so we didn't get a lot of music influences in the house growing up, only the hip-hop my brother listened to. So any other type of music I had to find on my own and I focused on new stuff, I never had the chance to really listen to older music, maybe I'll start exploring that now.

What's next for you?

I am working on an album, called Welcome Home, it is coming out in the Summer. I worked with the a production team from formed by the drummer and keyboardist from the band Bad Rabbits from Boston. I am also a writer with them so we did it all together. We are planning on a summer tour, right now we are finishing the mixing and then we can start shopping it around.

Gloria Vargas is a contributor from Seed.com. Learn how you can contribute here.