IAR Interview: Fred The Godson

Hip-Hop's primary foundation is built on the achievement of the underdog.  The prolific idea that individuals can create such an abounding art and do so in a way that expresses their stories through life's hardships, trials and tribulations, and struggles, only to find themselves prospering from such tales, is the true nature of what makes the rap game special and distinguished.  Fred The Godson has experienced a plethora of such trying times.  The South Bronx rapper was dealt a raw hand at an early age.  Drugs, violence, and poverty played a formidable part in his upbringing.  However, like many other hip-hop "Rags To Riches" success stories, Fred not only uses his life experience as a platform for his music, he embraces it as a positive.  He's the american dream.  He stared down the face of adversity and turned an unfavorable situation into an outlet for him to share his gift, and unquestionably, his music is a gift.  Fred The Godson is a poet, a voice, a revolutionary, and an avid storyteller.  His rhymes reach all avenues of the genre and affect each individual person differently.  His multitude of styles, metaphors, and punch lines make him as individualistic as an artist can be.  There is however an aspect that sets him apart from other rappers is the industry.  It's not his ridiculously clever wordplay, or his impeccable flow and precise delivery, or even his swag and ego, it's his PAIN.  You can hear the unadulterated pain exude through his bars.  All of his life's troubles and daunting experiences are portrayed ever time Fred touches his pen to paper.  It makes him eccentric, personable, accessible, relatable, and 

most of all, enigmatic.  His music is a live broadcast from the hood, with zero supposition, just unmitigated reality.  On top of woes from the constrains of the hood, Fred The Godson is plagued with health issues, that in and of itself, would prevent someone from chasing there dream and mastering there craft.  He will be denied nothing.  He perseveres through all obstacles to be one of the best lyricists the rap industry has seen in years.  Even with all of his success, notoriety, and vast list of industry co-signs, Fred The Godson remains an underground artist.  His music is authentic and original, and is by no means influenced by label agendas or deadlines. 

With releases like his debut tape "Armageddon" and his follow up sophmore effort "City Of God" the South Bronx repper has not only created an undeniable buzz, but cemented himself as a top tier lyricist.  Maybe one of his most notable accomplishments to date would be his feature on XXL's most prestigious "Freshman" issue that chronicles the best and most up and coming artists each year.  Other artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Mac Miller, and Big K.R.I.T were mentioned in the same breath as Fred, a very well deserved, high honor to say the very least, that has furthered his ambition.

He's worked with other star artists such as Pusha T, Waka Flocka Flame, Diddy, Cory Gunz, Meek Mill, Raekwon, etc.  He's done multiple shows, features, radio appearances, and magazine publications.  All of his new found fame aside, Fred remains just as humble and focused as he was while getting his start freestyling in the BX.  FTG is the epitome of what New York hip-hop is so famous for, the arduous and often times impossible grind, for which only the strongest artists survive and prosper.  Fred The Godson also retains an incredible voice for hip-hop.  While some may argue that lyrics are lyrics, Fred delivers lines with a voice that is gritty, yet ultimately refined.  It resonates.  It's stands out.  It's distinguishable and unique, which in todays rap world, is somewhat of a valuable and rare commodity.  It gives him further viability.

Fred The Godson not only sets a resounding example for new and emerging artists, but he reforms the bar and standard for even the most seasoned vets in the game.  Very few rappers come along that significantly redefine the culture, he is one of those artists.  It's A Rap had the privilege to chop it up with Fred The Godson.  With "Gordo Frederico" dropping, (6-26-12) a joint project with Olivia, and multiple label interests,  Fred is not only an artist trying to get a spot in hip-hop, he's determined to restructure it all together, and take it back to when lyricism was king.  Someone once told him he sounded like "God's son," and under the pretenses of rap culture, the name fits immaculately.  

IAR: How did you get your start in the rap game?
FTG: "Being from the South Bronx, I’ve always been a fan of hip-hop.  Me being a fan, I always wanted to freestyle and everything, but I never really took on being a rapper.  I looked at rappers like super-heroes, you know like basketball players, people I idolized.  Rappers were the gods to me at that time.  As I got older, like 17 or 18, people were like “yo, you should try to rap.”  “You’re good at freestylin’ why don’t you just sit down and try to write?”  I’m just like “nah nah nah, that’s not me.  I’m just Fred, regular kid from the hood, I don’t rap.”  I have rappers on this pedistil that was so high, I never though that I could reach it myself.  So in my spare time I started writing.  There were a lot of ciphers outside, everybody was rapping, there was always a crowd around, always like one of two dudes that were nice.  I’m sitting here listening to their rhymes thinking I know I could do better than that.  I wasn’t hatin' I just knew my ability was better than that.  I just studied a couple of rhymes you know and I said next time they do one of these ciphers I’m going to get in there.  So next time I waited for dude to finish and was like “yo I got something.”  I don’t remember what I said but I know  it was a metaphor or punch line, cuz everybody started running around, banging on the cars, and just that reaction I got made me feel so good, I decided then that this is what I wanted to do."

IAR: How did you get the name Fred The Godson?
FTG: "I suffer from asthma, kidney failure, high blood pressure and diabetes, so at the time I had seen my doctor, my asthma was so bad and my levels were so crazy that she never wanted me to do anything strenuous that was going to cause me to have an asthma attack.  I couldn’t play full games of baskeball or anything.  It just so happened that I had a clinical appointment that day and I had the tickets in my hand cuz' I was doing this showcase and I told her it was that night.  She’s like “I don’t think you should do it, your levels are so bad that you’re going to hurt yourself.”  I was like “nah nah I’ve been practicing, so when I get to the raps, nothings happening, I’m good.”  She didn’t believe me, so she bought a ticket and told me she was coming to the show.  I didn’t think she was going to come or whatever, but that night she came.  I did the showcase, I didn’t win but I got through the whole rhyme and everything was good people were lovin’ it, they gave a lot of props for it being my first show and everything.  She just came up to me and was like, “Oh I’m so proud of you, I can’t believe it, you were so good up there, it was like something came over you like you were God’s son or something.” When she said that, it just connected."

IAR: Growing up in the South Bronx, how has that influenced and shaped your style?
FTG: "It influenced everything, 100% you know what I’m sayin’ because your around what you do and your around what you see and it was a part of everything.  You know me seeing the drugs, my father was heavy on drugs when I was young, he’s clean now thank god, problems with brothers and sisters, just interacting with the hood on a day to day basis and everything that was a part of that life.  So when you hear me now, you hear it in the lines I put together, you hear the street, the way my voice is, it’s where I’m from and I’m from nothing.  A shelter, like 8 of us living in a two room shelter in the Bronx and me interacting with all of these people.  It’s negative, but me turning a negative into a postive.  It’s just around us, it’s what we have to do to survive.  Everything you hear from me lyrically and in my rhymes, if I’m talking about a girl or whatever it’s from the Bronx.  Everything’s BX, the hood, that’s where I’m from and that’s where I'm at."

IAR: Any artists outside of NY that have influenced you?
FTG: "Yea I listen to all hip-hop, all rap, all music.  Ludacris, T.I., Jeezy, Snoop.  These are dudes that aren’t from NY but still from the hood, you know what Im sayin’?  The things that are going on In the Bronx are going on in L.A. and Atlanta.  The hood is the hood."

IAR: You're an incredibly lyrical artist, how much emphasis do you put on writing and what's that process like?
FTG: "I put a lot of thought into it.  It doesn’t take as long as people probably think because I’ve been doing this for so long, it just comes.  Some rhymes take longer than others you know, some rhymes I put together real quick.  For instance “She Call Me God” took me probably three hours to write and it was just because of the mind frame I was in.  Then you have records like “So Crazy” and “Too Fat” I wrote both of those in a little over an hour at once.  It just depends.  Then you have the intro for “Armageddon” I wrote that fast, in like an hour and a half."

IAR: What's it been like since being featured on XXL's Freshman cover last year, how has hat enhanced your career?
FTG: "It’s definitely enhanced my career.  That’s the biggest thing that’s happened to me in hip-hop thus far.  I call it the all- star game cuz' you know everybody, like 3-4 million that wish they could get on that cover.  Everybody’s bustin’ their a**, working, and for you to be hand selected from those 3-4 million and to be put on the cover for your individual attributes is crazy!  That was huge, even the cover that came out now, I’m just so happy for those dudes cuz' I know how I was feelin’ last year.  My freshman class I was real proud of it.  You got Meek, Diggy, Mac Miller, these are big dudes that are rocking right now, so for me everything just enhanced.  When I got on the cover we just knew an opportunity was going to happen, so we just have to keep working, keep going in.  So that’s what we’ve been doing just working hard ever since and it’s paying off."

IAR: What's your label situation?
FTG: "Well right now we’re in talks with a couple of labels, they’re biting, we’ve just been sitting down with the team trying to figure out which one we wanna attack, but in the mean time, the show don’t stop.  We’ve been blessed to be making a lot of money off of what we’ve been doing you know like shows, appearances, everything we’ve been doing.  The game has changed now were you don’t even need to ink a deal to pay your bills right now, it’s a good situation, like my man Mac Miller still doing it like that with the number one independent album in the country, it’s just amazing.  So in the mean time, if we’re all going to take a deal and sit down and ink something up, we still won’t be given ya’ll nothin’ but that fire.  So we’re still working."

IAR: What new projects do you have coming.  We're hearing a lot of buzz about "Gordo Frederico" and "Beauty And The Beast" with Olivia.  Are those still in the works?
FTG: "Yea we got it, it’s done.  We just don’t know when we’re going to drop it, our schedules are so hectic, she’s got things coming out, I’ve got things coming out, so we just need to figure out how we’re going to work it.  So you might get a few things off of my "Gordo Frederico" tape that’s dropping, that’s the project that’s coming out now.  Everything is ready.  If you like "Armageddon" and "City Of God" you're going to love this."

IAR: Who are some artists you worked with on "Gordo Frederico?"
FTG: "We got Fat Joe, we got Cory Gunz, we got Jim Jones, we got Lil' Kim, Olivia, and I might have another surprise for ya’ll, you never know, but thus far, that’s what it is."

IAR: Are you touring?
FTG: "Nah right now we’re here, we’er hitting up Connecticut, Boston, so it still feels like we’re on tour.  We’re just working."

IAR: What's the feel of "Gordo Frederico" in comparison to "Armageddon" and "City Of God?"
FTG: "On my first tape the name spoke for itself, "Armageddon."  I just came out swingin'.  The first line, as soon as you heard it, no DJ host or nothin’ just put the boxing gloves on, I didn’t even string em’ up, I just ran out there and started swinging.  That’s what "Armageddon" was.  I just wanted to show ya’ll how it's supposed to be done.  "City Of God" sounded more like an album, its crazy.  "Gordo Frederico" is the fly side, that’s when the brains come out, it’s when I throw that slick talk in there, mixed with that  fire that I always deliver.  You got a little R&B on there, you got Olivia singing some beautiful hooks.  Then you get the grungy hip-hop joint called "Crack" with me and Fat Joe, then me and Cory take you somewhere, me and Jim Jones and me and Kim take you somewhere.  So it’s going to be crazy man.  Every joint is going to be different, I’m not going to give ya’ll the same feel.  And the reason why you love Fred The Godson is going to be on every last one of em'."

IAR: So what does the future hold for Fred The Godson?
FTG: "Sky’s the limit man, sky’s the limit.  Everyday I wake up I pray to God for the opportunity and strength to keep moving.  It’s a lot of work but it’s a chance, especially where I'm from, like I cant speak for everyone, but some people are born with silver spoons in their mouth and some people just got it, but I’m from nothing, so it’s just a blessing.  So I’m always thinking about the future man, I wanna' do everything from clothes, acting, everything, but the base starts with the music.  So there’s no limitations, skys the limit, that’s the quote, that sums up everything, any and everything I'm trying to get involved in and just turn a negative into a positive.  I’m from something that’s full of negativity, and when I rap about it you probably hear something that’s very negative, but it's all turned into a positive.  I’m just excited about this life, it's just crazy Jake, so just remember what I told you sky’s the limit, you heard it here first, I’m trying to get everything in the near future."

Download Armageddon, City Of God, and Gordo Frederico at www.datpiff.com

Follow on Twitter @ www.twitter.com/FREDTHEGODSON