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Dubcnn Exclusive – B-Ezzy
By: Jonathan Hay
www.myspace.com/jonathanhay ..........................................................................................

Dubcnn: You've got a song with Mistah F.A.B. called "Million Bucks". What was it like working with him?

F.A.B. is my main man. He is extremely easy to work with because he's on the grind just as much as I am, so he understood how important it was to get this song done. Once he heard the finished version, he knew I had talent. He's helped me promote the song a whole lot through Twitter and etc. The song is everywhere now; I want to do a video for it sometime in the future.


Dubcnn: Do you think Mistah F.A.B will appear in the music video?

Oh, most definitely. I'll come to Oak town [Oakland, California] to do the video so that he can be in it.


Dubcnn: How did you hook up with him?

Through Twitter, I gave him my number and he gave me a call the next day…and the rest is history!


Dubcnn: Through Twitter? Wow.

[Laughs] Yeah, crazy, right?


Dubcnn: Crazy. Did he hear your music before he hit you back?

Yep, he told me he liked “Morgan Girl”, the song I did with some friends at my school. The video got a crazy buzz for that track.


Dubcnn: “Million Bucks” obviously uses a Slick Rick sample. Are you worried at all about being sued for that?

Not at all. We’re thinking about pursing that as a radio track so we’re going to get the sample cleared and all that, of course.


Dubcnn: You've also worked with a lot of famous Djs...Can you break down how they each got involved?

Yep, yep. Okay, well, I met DJ Smallz through MySpace --


Dubcnn: You're a social networking pimp!

Most definitely, you gotta be like that. As an aspiring artist always does, you hit up famous people but you figure they won’t hit you back, but [DJ Smallz] actually did. He told me that he wanted to do a tape, and the rest is history. After the Smallz tape, it gave my name creditability with other Djs.


Dubcnn: So these big names are impressed by your music. It's cool that they would take the time to listen to it like that…

Definitely, it's a real good feeling. I know…I’m just as surprised as you! [Laughs]


Dubcnn: What other Djs are you involved with?

DJ Ill Will, DJ Rockstar, The Empire, The Aphiliates. Not [DJ Drama], but I know DJ Head Dibase and Rod B. Gutta. I met Ill Will and Rockstar through Twitter and I told them about what I did with Smallz and said we should do a tape. They definitely agreed and they have been supporting me ever since. They put all my exclusives on www.hotnewhiphop.com, which is a really big site, and I've gained a lot of fans because of that. I recently met The Empire last week, through email, and he's going to be on the mixtape as well, hosting with Dj Ill Will and DJ Rockstar. I met the Aphiliates through my old manager and he got me a slot on one of their mixtapes, and that's how I clicked up with them. My goal is to do a DJ Drama tape before my career is done.


Dubcnn: Very impressive. So, what's the timeline for all this? Did this all happen over a period of weeks, months, or what?

It happened over a period of a few months…I haven't been rapping for year yet. I started [rapping] last December.


Dubcnn: You just started rapping for the first time last December?

Yep, I just started actually putting words on pen and pad and doing this rap thing seriously since December. Yeah, I'm still a rook [laughs].


Dubcnn: A rookie stepping right into the major leagues.

[Laughs] Yeah, you right. I rapped a little growing up but I was always a Basketball player, so I didn't take it serious. My cousin still has freestyles I did just playing around and he always suggested that I do it for real, but I didn’t start officially until my Basketball dream ended.


Dubcnn: That's crazy. How far did you go with Basketball?

I was okay, I played in a few big camps but I stopped after high school when I was only getting D2 and D3. I wanted to play in college; it just didn’t work out like that.


Dubcnn: Do you do any producing or anything else?

Nah, I'm working on it though. I just learned how to make beats the other day, so I’m gonna definitely get into that so I can be a more versatile artist.


Dubcnn: Well, judging by how fast your music career is taking off considering you’ve only been rapping for a year, who knows, maybe if you pick up a drum machine tonight you'll be working with Dr. Dre within three months. [Laughs]

[Laughs] Maybe! My mother always said I was a fast learner, just gotta apply myself.


Dubcnn: Is she the one who holds you down?

Most definitely, gotta love mom Dukes. Pops is real cool, too, I just don't see him as much because he stays back home in St. Louis.


Dubcnn: So, who do you think is hot right now in music and why?

I gotta start with Jay-Z of course, he's just a legend in the game. I hope to work with him one day. Then you got Young Money -- they just taking the game by storm right now, they got all the young weapons out there. Drake, Tyga, Jae Millz and, of course, Lil Wayne and Kanye West. Also, Nicki Minaj – she’s the best female rapper out there right now to me. Beam Me Up Scotty was a crazy mixtape! She’s got a buzz bigger than most male rappers [Laughs].


Dubcnn: What's the best thing Jay-z has put out this year, in your opinion?

“Empire State of Mind” to me, that track is crazy!


Dubcnn: Do you have a single or an album you're currently promoting?

Yes, “Party Tonight”. I'm trying to get that on the radio soon, and nah, no album yet. I'm on my Gucci Mane mixtape thing right now [Laughs], just trying to feed the streets and get my buzz up.


Dubcnn: Yeah, well you've accomplished a lot so far. What are you working on right now?

The Mixtape with DJ Ill Will, DJ Rockstar and the Empire, called Ezzy Like Sunday Morning. Coming February 1st, 2010.


Dubcnn: So, other than rapping and basketball, do you have any other skills or talents?

Most definitely is…I draw a little something. I can draw tennis shoes, that's about it though. [Laughs].


Dubcnn: Do you aspire to design your own line of shoes?

Yeah, hopefully, I'm real big into fashion.


Dubcnn: That's cool. Who are you favorite designers?

Of course, Gucci and Louis Vuitton, but I wear stuff from like H&M, Mishka NYC and Ransom. They definitely have some fly stuff.


Dubcnn: Definitely. So, if you designed your own line of shoes, what would they look like and what would you call the line?

They would be like some real casual and athletic, but yet stylist shoes. They would be able to support athletes and casual people. They would be called the "Ezzy's" [Laughs].


Dubcnn: Something people would be surprised to know about you?

I'm incredibly shy, especially around girls. I've grown out of it a little bit but I’m still suffering from it.


Dubcnn: How do you push past that shyness when you’re performing?

I turn into another person while performing because I've had so many co-signs. I'm never shy about my music. But as far as everything else, I am. I stopped being shy with music after I talked to Smallz.


Dubcnn: Yeah, it really only takes one really great person to compliment you...

That's it.


Dubcnn: But you won't get too cocky, right?

Not at all. I'm as humble as a person you'll meet. Many people don't know I do music until they see it online or something because I don't talk about it.


Dubcnn: That's good. What do you consider to be your biggest accomplishment to date?

It's a tie between doing my first mixtape with DJ Smallz and doing a song with Project Pat. Those are my biggest accomplishments, along with getting on allhiphop.com recently. I got a lot of friends that rap and none of them have been on that site, so it was great feeling.


Dubcnn: What do you mostly rap about?

I rap about my life, the world and girls, of course, and just anything people can relate to. I'm like an Andre 3000 kind of rapper, just younger. [Laughs]


Dubcnn: What about your life inspires you to write?

Just different experiences I've went through, like the struggles of balancing school, music and social life and what’s going on in the rap game. My life growing up in St. Louis and times when me and my mother didn't see eye to eye.


Dubcnn: Can you talk about a situation from your past that still haunts you sometimes?

I've lost a lot of family members in my life: one uncle and a close family friend so far this year.


Dubcnn: Were you close to your uncle?

To be totally honest, my uncle was a drunk, we was never really close at all. I was more close to the family friend because he had a big influence on my life growing up. Before he died, he told me that I should still be playing basketball, and that still comes to mind every now and then. Also, I went through some stuff with my moms this summer; we cool now, but I still think about that from time to time.


Dubcnn: What is it that you think about from that situation?

I think about how things were before that. My music kinda fell off for a few months during that stretch when we feel off. I wasn’t living with her this summer after this situation that occurred and that affected me because my mom is my foundation and without her involved with me, stuff just ain’t the same. So I was recently depressed through those times and I explained that in this track I did to Tupac's “Pain” instrumental, called “Life Isn't Always Ezzy”.


Dubcnn: How did you work through it with your mom?

We eventually talked and patched things up, but it open my eyes to how hard the world is when you just have yourself.


Dubcnn: Very true. So your friend who passed away, did he ever hear you rap?

[Laughs] Which one? No, he never did.


Dubcnn: So, maybe if he heard you rap he would've told you that's what you should be doing…

Maybe you right. He'll be listening in heaven though.


Dubcnn: So do you have ties to the west coast?

Yeah, a few. My man Jewels from Crown Jewels Management who managed me for a while is from the west and still resides out there. He put me on to a lot of west coast people, so that's how I reached out to F.A.B.


Dubcnn: What do you think about what's going on in the west coast right now, musically speaking?

They definitely making moves out west. A lot of artists are coming up from out there: Nipsey Hussle, Mistah F.A.B. and The Game is coming back.


Dubcnn: Is there an underdog that you see doing big things in the near future?

Yeah, Tyga. Nobody really talks about him like that but I think his next album is going to be real dope when he drops it.


Dubcnn: What types of tracks are you drawn to?

I like Club bangers and deep tracks with meaning to them. I love beats with 808's and the heavy drums, and also love the simple beats with the snares and drums that I can get really lyrical to.


Dubcnn: Do you have any final thoughts for Dubcnn?

I just wanna say thanks to God, thanks to Dubcnn -- the hottest out West -- for giving me this interview. I wanna shout out to my momma, my family, GMB and, of course, my girl, Jasmine!


Check out B-Ezzy on MySpace: www.myspace.com/bezzyeazy