Miami Hip Hop

What’s good with you?
Baysiqly: Doing good, thanks for having us.

E.R.: I’m working working working…doing the music & the business work.

When did you first get into the hip hip scene out here in the MIA?
Baysiqly: I’ve been in the Miami scene for about six years going back my days with a previous endeavor which E.R. was also a part of. It wasn’t until recently when i teamed up with E.R. again after a brief break in which i started seeing the impact my music could make with doing things the right way in regards of getting it out to the fans.

E.R.: I started making beats when I was around 14, but I’m very cautious of what I wanted to put out, so I would just come home every day and make beats and see the improvement with every track I did. I also wrote rhymes since I was 11 but never took it seriously, I just used to be on the back of the school bus writing away, trying to make as many multi-syllable rhymes as possible because everyone used to try and freestyle back then. Got involved in that failed endeavor with Baysiqly, and fast forward a year after we jumped ship, here we are, Vagabonds Music Group.

We posted your mixtape the other day on miamihiphop.org and its getting good feedback. Whats your favorite song on the mixtape?
Baysiqly: I actually have two favorite songs on there. My first one would be “It Ain’t So Hard To Tell”, because it describes every aspect of my life. I went deep in that song in regards to my past. My second favorite would be “Good Neighbors”, which talks about me moving into a new neighborhood with artists who make the same kind of music I do and have the same frame of mind, sort of like me feeling comfortable in my new surroundings.

E.R.: I have two favorite tracks as well. First you have “Say You Will”, which is over the Kanye West instrumental of the same name, but I flipped it in a very different way. It’s me lashing out at people who say they support your music but they don’t, and industry folks who feel like you making it is because of any so-called favors they may do, but in actuality they come to help when it’s convenient. My old girl got a shout out on there, because she was the first one to believe in me doing music, so I have to let her know I’m thankful for that. Second track, “I’m A Vagabond”, is just that, basically describing what we’re about. Baysiqly is on that track in spirit, and I love it because it’s a crowd favorite when we perform it because of the hook.

I know you’re on your grind hard and I bet you’re already working on the next project(s). Can you let us know what you have in the works?
Baysiqly: We have plenty in the works besides “V For Vendetta”. We intend on dropping the single “Predictions” for our next project, “No Gimmicks”. The fans could expect to see all original material and our true artistic side. We feel as if we are a different brand of hip hop in which we talk about a variety of topics and the people will notice that automatically with our next project.

E.R.: Just like Baysiqly said, we have “Predictions” coming soon. One of our best collaborations for sure, it’s a very strong record. Before that we actually have a movie trailer-type film for Vagabonds Music, which actually uses some of the music from “Predictions”. You’ll notice my production has a film-feel to it, because like it to tell stories even without lyrics. “No Gimmicks” will be our Gangstarr/UGK project, meaning that he’ll play the role of Guru (RIP) or Bun B, while I handle all the production duties like Dj Premier and Pimp C (RIP) did. After that, for 2011, we have solo projects we’re working on, which right now I’m thinking up of all the song concepts of mines for.

Who did you look up to in the Miami hip hop game growing up?
Baysiqly: Growing up, Trick Daddy was one of my favorite Miami artists. Legends such as Luke and 2 Live Crew kept us dancing, but Trick was my favorite Miami MC.

E.R.: Trick Daddy Dollars! I grew up on Miami music though, my older cousins Lito & JC would be playing 2 Live Crew when I was a baby so it was always in my blood, but Trick and JT Money & the Poison Clan showed the world Miami was more than making girls dance.

Let’s talk about your video. Where did you shoot it at? And who filmed it?
Baysiqly: The video was shot where i spent most of my childhood coming from Haiti before i moved south. My scene was shot in North Miami at my old apartment complex. The apartment shown in the video was actually my old living headquarters. I’ll never forget that place. Another portion of my video, (“First Day of School”) was shot in front my old elementary school, Natural Bridge Elementary.

E.R.: My two portions of the video were shot in Riverside, in Little Havana’s east side which is where I was born and raised. The “Exhibit E” scene where I’m rapping on the stair case is actually my old apartment building, it used to be so many of us in that building, so it’s something I wanted to do to show I can never forget where I came from and to show Little Havana isn’t just Calle Ocho and old Cubans playing dominoes, because aside from building the new Marlins stadium, we’ve kinda been left to fend for ourselves. As far as the shooting of the video, we have to give Dre Films major props on that, he knew exactly the direction we were looking to go in the second we stepped on location

If you could battle any rapper in the industry, who would it be? And why?
Baysiqly: Well I’m going to be honest with you, I’m not the battling type, but if I could have a choice of battling anyone, although I’d probably get killed, it would be Eminem. Just to have him freestyle live even if he was destroying me it would be a pretty cool site. But all in all I just stick to making good music, I’ve never been the battle rapper type, no disrespect to those who are.

E.R.: Yeah same here man, I’m not a battler at all, I’m horrible at coming off the top of the dome, but it came out naturally at one of our past performances where we were kinda pressured into it. I come from that ‘Pac school of thought, where I just write my life and everything around me.

What is the best show you have ever done in Miami?
Baysiqly: Tobacco Road was my favorite show because of the atmosphere it provides.

E.R.: Same here, it’s not like a lot of venues where it’s tons of people and they may not necessarily be paying attention to you. I love the intimate setting Tobacco Road provides, we had people who were already our fans and people of all walks of life in there who never heard of us prior to the show, but left the venue as Vagabond fans.

Any last words you have for all your fans out here in Miami and world wide?.
Baysiqly: I want to give a special thanks to the whole VMG team. Everyone who we’re working with or have worked with, this journey has been a blessing and were going to keep making things happen. I want to give a big shout to everyone who keeps supporting us, those of you who show up to our shows and those of you on our social networking sites (Faceboook, Myspace, Twitter, etc), I love you all. Last but not least I want to thank MiamiHipHop.org for showing us love, you guys have our support anytime.

E.R.: It’s funny you say world wide, because I was looking over some reports recently and we have people in a couple of countries in South America, Africa, and the Middle East watching our videos. That being said I want to thank all our fans in Miami who have our back, you guys are our foundation. Thanks to all the out of town fans who come down and find out about us and spread the word back in their home towns! Shout out to our publicist Jay Fingers, our manager Phil Pradere, and our booking agent Edgar Pope, trust me, none of this is possible without y’all, and one time for MiamiHipHop.org for showing love on our video, mixtape, and now this interview!

Thanks for doing the interview with miamihiphop.org today, we appreciate it.

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Vagabonds Music Group, LLC.
www.vagabondsmusicgroup.com

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