|
Baby Boy tha Prince Talks to Youth Radio
By Youth Radio
Youth Radio sat down and talked with Baby Boy the Prince, an upcoming artist from New Orleans, who wrote his entire album post-Hurricane Katrina from his FEMA trailer. Baby Boy began his music career at age 16 when he opened for Cash Money and No Limit. More recently, he worked with legendary producer Mannie Fresh. Baby Boy's debut album, Across the Water, comes out in stores on March 20, 2007.
Youth Radio: When does your album come out?
Baby Boy: [The] album comes out March 20. The name of the album is "Across the Water." That's the name of the album. So when y'all see that in stores, make sure you go get that "Across The Water" by Baby Boy da Prince.
YR: Tell us what kind of production you got on the album.
BB: You know I had to keep it in New Orleans. My homeboy Mannie Fresh and my in-house producer DB's on a track, the [producer] who made "This Is The Way I Live." I got Play n’ Skillz on the album.
YR: Did you have any inspiration when making this album?
BB: Yeah, our city [New Orleans] went down and I feel we have to bring it back up. That's one of the things I did, I busted myself in the studio. I wrote my lyrics in a FEMA trailer after Hurricane Katrina hit and I just made it official. I just
made it for the fans in New Orleans.
YR: Talk about how New Orleans influenced your style?
BB: You know my dog Mystikal inspired me to do versatile music. I
always wanted to do different music. We got bounce music in New Orleans thats been hot forever. I'ma be the first artist to expose that to the world.
YR: So, how did you come up with a name for yourself?
BB: I used to always call myself da Prince ever since I as a little boy. I used
to play football and whenever I used to score a touchdown [I would shout
out] "Da Prince!" Me and my manager came up with the name Baby Boy.
YR: So how is life different since you hit it big?
BB: It's all this stress but you gotta learn how to handle the stress. If you
can't handle the stress, it's over for you!
YR: How do people in your hometown react to you?
BB: Well, they basically look at me as the same dude I been all of my life. It's
not all, "Ey, Ey, Baby Boy!"...it's just "What's up, big boy?"
YR: Who are you listening to right now?
BB: T.I., Juve and that's basically it right now. They're storytellers. All I
listen to is reality music.
YR: Any genres outside of rap?
BB: Hell yeah. Country, rock... My favorite song in the whole world is by Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow [it’s called] "The Picture." It has a great story behind it.
YR: How do you feel about the DJ Drama situation?
BB: I feel that [DJ Drama’s] situation is real crazy and I feel that they hatin' on dude. Dude just hit ‘em with a new different way to make money. You know, people been doing what he been doing for a while, but he just took it to the next
level. I just feel that [some people] just looked at it like: "You know
what? He just gettin' too strong. His name gettin' too strong. We gotta shut
this down. This dude ridin' in all these fancy cars. We gotta shut this down." They
just haters.
YR: Do you wanna work with Drama in the future?
BB: Yeah, yeah. Most definitely.
YR: What region of hip-hop seems to be your favorite?
BB: The South. All day.
YR: Second favorite outside the South?
BB: West coast.
YR: Do you plan to work with any Bay Area artists?
BB: Oh yeah, most definitely. They got them Vans kids. I wouldn't mind working
with the Vans kids. I think they call themselves The Pack or whatever. Then they got E-40 and just a lot of those people and just California period. I like they music.
YR: Have you been out this way before and what do you think of the Hyphy movement?
BB: A lot. I think it's different. We have something similar where I’m from, it’s called bounce music in New Orleans. It's similar to [hyphy] so I can vibe with that situation.
YR: What kind of music would you say make? Is it bounce?
BB: Nah, I make different types of music. I make anything. I do bounce, I do
country, I do rock and roll if I can get my hands on the right guitars.
YR: What was it like to work with Mannie Fresh, a legendary producer?
BB: It was like a dream come true!
YR: What are some of your favorite track on your album?
BB: My favorite track right now is called "Girl, I Wanna." It's a proposal song,
I'm proposing to a chick. I really feel story songs and that’s the best
story song on my album.
YR: So, are YOU actually proposing to a chick?
BB: I'm not proposing to nobody. I'm just talking about how I treat somebody...that special one.
YR: Is there a special one?
BB: No, I'm single right now.
YR: How long did it take you to make the album?
BB: It took me two months.
YR: What do you have to contribute to the music industry, different from other artists?
BB: I don't focus on one audience. A lot of rappers focus on one audience. I focus from the grandpas to the little kids singing nursery rhymes.
YR: Do you have any collaborations your working on?
BB: We working on something right now. We bout to get Young Dro on my remix and Young Joc.
YR: Tell us when your album comes out again.
BB: My album comes out March 20th. [We’re shooting] that video with Mannie Fresh. Just trying to stay focused and get
added to these different radio and video stations. It's hard, so just steady
working.
YR: Do you plan on coming out the Bay anytime soon?
BB: I will be in the Bay soon.
YR: Okay, well we gotta’ wrap it up. Thank you for your time. I really appreciate
you taking time out for the interview. We'll be looking forward to your video and
next single and seeing you out here in the Bay. Thank you.
BB: Alright, thank you.
|
|
