Rain Interview (Talks Magic Hour 2, New Projects, Discography)

[D-Nice]

http://illuminati2g.com/site/2011/07/10/rain-interview-2/

I2G linked up with one of the site's favorite artists, Rain for a exclusive interview. For our 3rd and most in depth interview yet with Rain we discuss his new album, The Magic Hour 2, his favorite joints from his catalog, his candid thoughts on the hip hop game and much more so check it out.

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

Everything is going well, working hard man, just grinding.

Your new album, The Magic Hour 2, has been out for a couple months now. What has been the response from the streets on the new album?

I have been getting great responses from people and I have been hearing people call it a classic. I hate to believe that myself because I feel like once you make a classic, you are at your peak and I am so far from reaching that.

It's good to hear people saying that and know they appreciate it that much and give me that feedback that I made a good album.

Do you have any other videos or singles set to drop from the project?





We dropped the Rich Forever video and we also did Works For Me, directed by Scenario. We shot so many videos it's hard to keep track of all of them. I am a studio freak, I am in there all day working. We definitely got some good virals out there.

What are some good moments or memories from making the Magic Hour 2? You did that album basically by yourself outside of production with no guests.

I focused more on the production this time. My previous cds I dabbled with the production and making beats and I might come up with a idea for a couple joints. With this album, I had a chance to sit down with DJ Pain 1 and bounce ideas off of each other and make beats.

It was a dope feeling to be that hands on with the project rather than just receiving emails recieving beats from people and just rapping on them. This time we really went in and every song on the cd was produced by both of us collectively.

There were some joints he would send me the sample and I would do the drum patterns or played the bassline or different things like that. I want to make sure I do that with my upcoming albums as well.

What's up next for you after Magic Hour 2 and your label 1st In Flight Entertainment?

Well as far as the label, we are about to put out Lo Keys new mixtape. He has a few joints out now that people can check out. Big Cas has a new album entitled Euphoria and Traffic has a new album called 5 O' Clock Traffic. Those are all the new projects coming from the label.

Those guys stay busy and put out alot of new material and I am always working on new material as well. Also my artist Krillz is putting out a new album and right now I am working on getting us a bigger platform to showcase the label to a bigger audience. Hopefully we can land us a nice distribution deal to show more people the kind of talent we have over here.

As far as me, I am making some new music right now. I don't know if I am going to do a Magic Hour 3 but we will figure it out. It depends on how the music is sounding.

I just wanted to go over with you the albums that you have dropped so far and ask you what are your favorite tracks from each one of them. What was your favorite track from American Dreamin?

I would have to say Hell. I believe it was the last track on the album.

I like the joint For You with Allure. That joint was dope.

YES! I like that one too, Allure is so dope she was on 1st In Flight too but she eventually wanted to go out and do her own thing. I respect her for that and there was a 2 year gap from when I last worked with her on American Dreamin and then we linked back up to do a song on the Magic Hour. But yeah that is my homegirl, she's dope.

Yeah that joint and Can You Feel It with the Jackson 5 sample that track was crazy too.

Feel It! Wow! I actually heard them play that song out here on the radio the other day in Fayetteville, NC. I thought that was dope because the song is 2 or 3 years old.

What about American Dreamin 2?

Oh wow that's easy, Lady In A Red Dress. That was my storytelling joint and I don't feel like alot of artists do that anymore.

American Dreamin 3



I like May Not Be. I thought that was a different sound with the funk. That and Precious.

I would have to say mine is Home Sweet Home.

That one was dope too (laughs). I don't have the tracklist to all these albums but thanks I appreciate that.
No problem. Next is Magic Hour.

I like Baby Don't Do It and Works For Me.
I would have to say for me You Asked For It. That joint was crazy!

You Asked For It was one of my favorite recording sessions. I recorded that with Bink, and he did Devil In A New Dress for Kanye, 1-900 Hustler, Mama Loves Me, The Ruler Is Back. He is a legendary producer from that whole Roc-A-Fella era. I went to his house in New Jersey and he was playing me all these joints and they were hot.

I just had to finally pick one randomly or I am going to be in here all day trying to pick a beat. I remember when I picked that beat and started recording You Asked For It, Bink had the Carlito's Way movie on the mixing board.

I said throw that movie on let's see if we can sample something off there. When I heard the part that we used from the movie, I wrote the song based around that. That was a dope experience working with Bink.
Magic Hour 2

Rich Forever.
What are your thoughts right now on hip hop in 2011?

I don't really know, it's really weird right now. There are so many artists out there that are dope, but even they are really underground. You look at artists like Kendrick Lamar, I like his music, Jay Cole, Nipsey Hussle, but these guys still are not over the hump yet.

They are not quite mainstream yet, so when it comes to radio and TV and if that is what you consider hip hop then we are in a bad state. But if you are on the internet and you are really digging for dope music, you will find people like Elzhi and others that have not broken through the barriers yet, myself included.

The state of hip hop is really in a weird place and there are so many artists that are so close, one foot in the door and they are in, and when that day happens, it will be great. It will be another golden era almost in music and these kids can grow up and fall in love again with the same hip hop we grew up to and fell in love with, just with these dope new artists. Hopefully it works like that in the future.
Absolutely I agree. Do you have any upcoming shows or tour dates?

We are working on putting together a college tour later in the year. There will be a new project coming up from me in the next month or two. Something that I can hit the people with again because I record so much music that I hate for it to be just sitting around. That is why I have so many mixtapes floating around.
You mentioned possibly a Magic Hour 3 or you think you will just go with a mixtape?

I don't know still, it depends on how I feel once I start recording. If it feels like it is another chapter to the Magic Hour, then I will do it. If not I am going to come up with a whole new thing for it. This next project I am going to put it on I-Tunes because I feel like I have given people alot of free music.

People hit me up on twitter all the time and say we appreciate all the free music but it would be nice if you did put these albums out on I-Tunes so we can support you. So I am gonna do that with this next project and I feel like mu album on I-Tunes will reach a wider audience and the respect value as well to have a official project on it.

You have to have a value to yourself to have people respect what it is your doing.
Alright well that is all the questions I have for you, appreciate you getting down for the interview. Is there any last words or shoutouts you want to get out there to the people?

Shout out to 1st In Flight Entertainment and thank you to Illuminati 2G for once again reaching out.