IAR Interview: Lil Champ FWAY

The arduous journey to notoriety and main stream appeal is often paved with the potential accolades and harshness of the underground hip-hop scene.  Rvidxr Klvn's Lil Champ FWAY is a residing member of that underground arena. In an age where aspiring rappers are bountiful, Champ is quickly and skillfully staking his claim.  Champ is an artist who has abolished the all mighty dependance on glitz and glam, and based his creativity on the idea that the rap game has a message, at times dark, but a significant one at that.  With gritty, at times grim rhyme patterns, the FWAY God delves into issues of society and hardships and treads into murky waters otherwise taboo.  The Carol City rhymer is ignoring the typical styles of most new artists and interpreting a decade old swag, with his own audacious style.  While the hardcore rhymers seem to have all but dissipated from the hip-hop scene, Champ's grimy delivery and unconventional flow seem to be resurrecting the very basis of the art form's roots.  His authenticity evokes realness and is molding him into an artist with limitless bounds.  His unrefined approach is the very key to distinctiveness, granting him the opportunity to not be creatively confined.  FWAY's modern day poetic valor, integrated with natural talent and ingenious thought processes, are spawning a rapper whose multi-faceted nature will assuredly transcend the underground.  It's A Rap had the chance to catch up with the "Neighborhood Superstar" and in his rising and promising growth as an artist, building underground buzz, along with a smart and intricate mind, Lil Champ FWAY will in time be an artist creating his own prototype of what mainstream should look like.  All rise for the FWAY GOD!


IAR: When did you get your start in Hip-Hop?
LCF: "I've been listening to hip- hop my whole life, but I didn't start rappin' until I was 14."


IAR: What was process behind you linking up with RVIDXR KLVN?
LCF: "Last year my homie Uncle Luke was suppose to shoot a video for SpaceGhostPurrp and he was like, "check this artist out I'm working with, he's from Carol City just like you."  So I checked his music, I liked it, so we linked on Twitter.  He liked my music too, so one day we spoke on the phone and we didn't even discuss music, we talked about life and the world from our point of view.  We found out we knew a lot of the same people and we were around each other but didnt know it.  Raider Klan is a movement and family who has the same beliefs.  We have all been through the same situations in life, so we come together from all over the world and tell our story."


IAR: Describe your sound.
LCF: "My sound is all over the place.  I don't make a specific type of music.  I have several different styles and flows, I switch them up alot and I will do it forever."


IAR: The Klan seems to have a very consistent and hardcore feel. Do you tend to follow the same dynamic?
LCF: "Yup!  I make hardcore music, that's what we came up on. Nowadays it seems like rap music has gotten soft, like people are scared to show they have a bad side.  I also make positive music too, I just go off of how I feel."


IAR: What was the concept behind "Neighborhood Superstar Est. 1999?"
LCF: "I was a big Cash Money/No Limit fan growing up, really I just loved everything about the 90's.  The "Neighborhood Superstar" part came from a Hot Boyz song called "Neighborhood Superstars," it was my favorite song when I first heard it around 1999 and thats when I started rapping.  That's where the "est.1999" comes from."


IAR: Any artist you want to work with?
LCF: "I wanna work with AZ, Nas, Warren G, Outkast, Pastor Troy, 8Ball & MJG, Birdman, Prodigy, Trick Daddy, and Travis Porter."


IAR: Producers you want to work with?
LCF: "Pharrell, Juicy J, Lex Luger, Organized Noize, TOO MANY TO NAME!" (Laughs)


IAR: What is the process that goes into making a Rvidxr centric record?
LCF: "We don't have a process when we make music.  We go off having a vision and concepts, but we just make underground, lo-fi music.  That Raider Klan music."


IAR: Influences?
LCF: "Michael Jackson, AZ, Nas, Prodigy, N.W.A., 2Pac, Hot Boyz, Wu-Tang Clan, Goodie Mobb, and 8ball & MJG."


IAR: Future Plans/Projects?
LCF: "I'm droppin' mixtapes all this year.  "FWAY AGE 4EVA," "FWAY NATION: EVIL SIDE," "HEAVY," "THE ERA OF GODZ," and "FWAY NATION: JUST VIBE" all in that order.  No set dates, but they are coming out fo' sho."


Download "Neighborhood Superstar Est. 1999" at www.lilchampfway.com

Follow on Twitter @ www.twitter.com/FWAYGOD