ROSCOE UMALI (May 2008) | Interview By: Nima Etminan

       Dubcnn connected with the Filipino rapper Roscoe Umali, who's been killing the airwaves with his "Live It Up" single in the past months. The L.A. rapper tells us about his come up, being a platinum artist overseas, starting and then quitting his own business to get back into music, and how he linked up with Sway and King Tech. We also touch on his numerous upcoming projects, and his two new radio singles, and go into detail about his grind, why he chooses to stay independent, and what would be needed for him to sign to a major. Check out all that and much more in this exclusive interview.
 

As always we have both the transcript and the audio for you to check and please feel free to send any feedback regarding the interview to: nima@dubcnn.com

 

Interview was done by phone in May 2008

Questions Asked By : Nima Etminan

Roscoe Umali Gave Dubcnn.com A Shoutout! Click Here

Full Interview In Audio : Here

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Related Media:

Roscoe Umali - I Got It (ft. Colby O'Donis)
Roscoe Umali - Live It Up (ft. Bobby Valentino & E-40)
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Dubcnn: We've hooked up with Roscoe Umali for an exclusive interview. How you doing man?

Man, it's all gravy, I'm doing gravy!


Dubcnn: For those who don't know you, go ahead and introduce yourself real quick, let us know who you are, where you're from and what you're here to do.

My name is Roscue Umali aka the Freshest Filipino. I represent Southern California, straight out of Los Angeles, California. We're the biggest independent artists in the game right now, trying to get it in!


Dubcnn: Explain to us how you got into rapping and your path up until now.

Well I've been doing music for a while now. I had a deal when I was really young in the game. I produced records overseas for a group called Drunken Tiger, cause I'm not just a rapper I'm also a producer. I produced four platinum albums overseas in Korea with a group called Drunken Tiger, who was accredited as the first Hip-Hop group in Korea. Then around 2001 I quit music, I started up my own business, an advertisement agency. Then I got into the mortgage industry, and about 2006 I woke up one day and realized I wasn't happy. So I quit my businesses and decided to invest in myself and in my music. So we've been grinding since 2006. That's the start.


Dubcnn: Let's get the name confusion out of the way first... You have nothing to do with Kurupt's brother Roscoe, or Roscoe P. Coldchain, correct?

Nope! My name is Roscoe Umali, the one and only! I mean I'm cool with them cats, shouts out to Roscoe and Kurupt. I fuck with those dudes. I really don't have a relationship with Roscoe P. Coldchain, but Roscoe Umali is my government name, so that's me!


Dubcnn: Have you met Roscoe or spoken to him about the name situation?

Yeah, I know Roscoe, you can look forward to a record with me and him! I have no connections to Roscoe P. Coldchain, but I think he's dope. But I fuck with Roscoe.


Dubcnn: So you're the third Roscoe in the game, what makes you stand out?

I'm just nice! I'll let the music speak for itself. I've been on the Wake Up Show twenty weeks in a row, which is longer than Eminem's run. I was on the Wake Up Show. everybody knows that I can spit, but I'm also known for making records. Obviously "Live It Up" was the first single out of the camp, it's at over 10,000 spins on Mediabase, and it continues to be the number 1 independent record in the country. I want my legacy to be known as not just a spitter, but also as the guy who can put together records and albums.


Dubcnn: How did you initially hook up with Sway and King Tech?

Well, we had a mutual friend who I met up in the Bay, he used to be an intern for the Wake Up Show back in the day, he took me to my first taping of the Wake Up Show. When I introduced myself, let them know about my aspirations and then spit my verses, they invited me back! They continued to invite me back and just became fam! Shouts out to Sway and King Tech, they've really been advising me about the direction of my career. It was really pivotal to meet them, build a relationship with them and just keep coming back to the Wake Up Show, it was a great outlet for me.


Dubcnn: You're single "Live It Up" with Bobby Valentino and E-40 has been killing the airways, tell us the story behind that song.

I actually hooked up with E-40 early on in our campaign. I had a show in Oregon and I met 40 Water. It was my goal to get up there and meet him and hopefully collaborate with him. It was a funy story, because he met me in the hotel lobby, and we ended up having like a ten minute conversation, but we didn't realize until later on in the conversation that he had mistaken me for somebody else! *laughs* So big shout out to my dude JD Maguire, he thought I was a cat named JD Maguire who was a record promote that everybody knows, a local hustler from L.A. that 40 did business with. That kind of broke the ice for us, so we met on a Friday and jumped in the studio in L.A. on Sunday.

It was a blessing to have a true legend like E-40 co-sign me, believe in me and take a leap of faith to get down with me to record that verse. But the "Live It Up" that you hear now that's on the radio is actually a remix version, cause the original version was from over two years ago, with me and J. Black produced by Amil G. Once I met up with Sway and King Tech, they introduced me to a producer named Focus out of Aftermath, he remixed the record, and we hollered at Bobby Valentino, who happened to be a personal friend of one of the people out of our camp, Amil G. The rest was history and that's how the record came along. It didn't just come about, we got the verse from 40 first, had a record, put it out, it was cool, it was cracking. But it wasn't until the remix with Bobby V jumping on, with Focus, and the direction from Sway and King Tech that it really got jumping.


Dubcnn: I believe you shot a video for it, how come that hasn't come out yet?

The video is about to come out, we're just putting the final touches on it. We got Bobby Valentino, we got E-40, it's just hard dealing with them two artists, who are like platinum artists, so they're all over the places. To coordinate everybody's schedule, me being busy myself, i\t was definitely a challenge, but we put it together cause the people wanted it, so expect to see that soon!


Dubcnn: Now you told me you have a new single coming out that's gonna be big... tell us about that one.

I got two new potential singles that are gonna be smashes. I got one with a kid named Colby Odonis, who is Akon's new prodigy. He has the number one record on the rhythmic charts right now called "What U Got", and we met early on during our radio tours. We put together a record produced by Amil G, who's from my AOW camp. He put a smash together called "I Got It", that's been leaked, you can catch it on the mixtapes or on the radio here and there. But we're trying to save that gun, cause we got our next single coming with the Avila Brothers, and for those who don't know who the Avila Brothers are, they're the highest selling Latino producers in the history of the game.

They have over 40 million records sold, produced for everybody from the Isley Brothers all the way to Usher. They're the ones who actually wrote and produced the "Confessions" record for Usher. Although they're not a household name like I think they should be, they're really gonna step to the forefront this year. We gotta let it be known who's putting all these hit records together, a lot of people don't know it's two Latino brothers. So shout out to Bobby, shout out to Iz, the Avila Brothers. I feel blessed to have that track, it's entitled "You Girl", it's more like a crossover, shows my versatility. Not only can I get on the street records, but I can get on the big pop crossover records. That's the direction I'm going right now. I did all the open mics and the battle scenes, I've conquered the street records, I feel like it's time to move on and get my sensual seduction on, you feel me? You can look forward to both those tracks hitting the streets in the summertime and for both to create major buzz.


Dubcnn: So are you going to end up releasing 60-something mixtapes or are you actually going to drop an album? We need West Coast artists with albums out!

I feel you! We have over 150 records that are ready, mixed, ready to go. We have four street albums that are coming out in the next couple of months. We're independent right now and we're making our chips just doing shows. We're shopping for a major deal and we've had meetings and talks with majors, but they're going to have to do something for me that I haven't done for myself already. My shoe just came out, the Roscoe Umali's, very profitable, and in order to do a label deal, I'd only be interested if it was a label deal. You feel me? To where we come in as partners and I'm not just your ordinary artist, but more of a boss, more of an executive.

The label is gonna have to do something for me that we're not already doing ourselves. That's the reason why we're hesitant to put out the album itself, cause it's profitable enough just selling our digital downloads, our mixtapes and our merchandising ourselves, as a crew. We really don't need the majors right now, I think that's the direction the music industry is headed. Until we have something like that in place, to where we can take it nationwide, it's gonna have to be a deal that takes me all across the world for me to consider it. Up until then, we're completely satisfied being independent and just getting our grind on. I learned it from big 40 Water himself, so you know what it is!


Dubcnn: So what are the next projects that you got coming out?

My first and and second mixtapes are available on iTunes and on my MySpace page, both hosted by DJ Warrior. I got another mixtape coming out with DJ Warrior, as well as another mixtape coming out with DJ Nik Bean and DJ Felli Fel. Then I got a couple more street mixtapes that are coming out. I'm trying to get Lil Wayne on one right now. You're gonna hear me featured on i-15's new single, you're gonna hear my singles on the radio, and then you're gonna see a flood of my mixtapes all over the place. Every single mixtape is gonna have 30 different new cuts, not recycled cuts. You can look forward to a bunch of music, and you look forward to seeing me dominate the airwaves on the West Coast.


Dubcnn: What's the album gonna sound like?

The album is gonna be whatever direction we take it. I got the street records, the party records, the spit records. It's ready, it can just b a collection of 12 cuts that we pick from a catalogue of 150. So everyday we're continuing to work with new producers, we've worked with everybody from Focus, DJ Muggs, DJ Khalil, to the Avila Brothers. When the time comes and the buzz is even bigger, we'll drop the album. But right now we're not really pressed, we just wanna keep on hitting the streets, hitting the radio, and keep on creating awareness about Roscoe Umali.


Dubcnn: Who are you feeling as far as rap goes right now?

I'm feeling Snoop Dogg, I'm feeling Kanye West, I'm feeling Glasses Malone and I'm feeling my new artist Young Keno, who's also got a new record on the radio right now called "Let's Get Together". He's the newest member of the AOW Records crew, and we've got big plans for Young Keno, his single is hot on the radio in L.A. right now on Power 106 and it features myself and Sharis. Those are the artists I'm feeling right now.


Dubcnn: I know you've been doing a lot of collaborations lately, who have you been messing with?

Oh man, we've got everybody from the New West pretty much, I just did a record with Stylistik Jonez, Problem and Butch Cassidy, produced by Dae One. That one is hot in the streets. I'ma be working with Hot Dollar. I'm on Bangloose's Grey Goose remix. I've been working with Glasses Malone. Everybody in the New West, shouts to the New West and all the up and coming West Coast artists, I mess with all of them.

I'm not trying to just keep it limited to the West Coast though. If you look at my mixtape "I Love My DJ's", I got collaborations on there with everybody from Smif-N-Wesssun to Wu Tang to Sean Paul from the Dirty South to Talib Kweli, Strong Arm Steady. It's a great blend of people from the undergrond to some of the most commercial best selling artists on the planet. My philosophy is, if you got skills, I'm working with you. I've been honored to work with the legends that I've worked with, and I'm just gonna continue to do more. They can check out my MySpace to see the catalogue that we're working with, but just to let everybody know, it's the real deal!


Dubcnn: Is there anything else you'd like to let everybody know?

I just want to give a big shout out to you, a big shout out to dubcnn. I know ya'll slept on me for a hot second, but I don't blame ya'll, a lot of people sleep on me at first, until they realize the content and the movement that we're bringing. I really don't feel like anybody is coming with the bars that we're coming with or the movement that we're coming with. I wanna give a big shout out to all my Filipino's that supported me from day one. It's not just a region that I belong to but it's a whole culture that affects me. So I wanna give a big shout out to all my Filipino's, all the Latino's that show me love. Make sure to check out that Latino remix of "Live It Up" with Pitbull and Sinful. And shouts out to all of California, Northern, Southern, Central, we're making it happen.