THE NEW NEW YORK | 5ive Mics

INTERVIEW KB Tindal PHOTOGRAPH @DONJAIDIDIT

5ive Mics is a charismatic gentleman from Brooklyn, New York. He’s a fashion visionary when it comes to his personal style and an entrepreneurial hustler who really needs no introduction. We got to chop it up about music, gettin money, business endeavors, how important friends are in life and in this wicked industry of music and entertainment and his new signing with All Entertainment Media Group. Welcome to Brooklyn and the 5ive Mics interview. Enjoy.

Validated: Let's just jump right on into it man. Tell me a little bit about the history man. Like how did you get the name 5ive Mics? I know you grew up in Brooklyn. And it sounds like you grew up in Brooklyn in the 80s and the 90s or the 90s and the early 2000s you know when shit was kind of rough. New York's a little different now. How did New York influence you man and where did the name 5ive Mics come from?

5ive Mics: Well, I’m a Five Percenter that's one. So, there were a lot of different elements of the 5ive thing with me. But Five Mics from Source Magazine when they used to rate the rapper's albums in Hip-Hop at a certain time. When I came out I wanted to have a name that really stood for Hip-Hop. Even at the time when I was calling myself 5ive Mics it might have come off corny back then. It might not have been the name you even thought of, people were like “5ive Mics”? Back then if you call yourself 5ive Mics you gotta be nice nigga. That’s what they say. So when I say corny, I mean from that perspective. It put me in the “you better be nice motherfucker type position.” Over the years over the decades somehow I've lived up to it. So it's dope that people accepted me being 5ive Mics, even the people that made up the whole situation with it. So I just think it's dope. 

Validated: What about Brooklyn man? What was the era that you grew up like and how did that influence you? 

5ive Mics: I'm from Crown Heights, Coney Island, East New York. I lived in all those places. I grew up all over Brooklyn. I was homeless in Brooklyn. I played basketball all over Brooklyn. I was born in 1984. This year I turned 40. I’m not one of the rappers that lie about their age. I’m turning 40 this year. Yeah, I'm just from the era where a lot of things happened. I'm from that era where I'm not like the crack era. I'm like the crack era like the 80s era because I was a little baby but I'm like right under that. The biggest drug dealers of all time were my uncles. They the big homies, like such and such doing 100 years. I was out when they were doing their thing. So we have different codes and eras that we grew up in. Hip-Hop raised us too. So I'm kind of like a Hip-Hop baby and the certain codes and certain things we learned from the Hip-Hop culture affected me. I grew up in Brooklyn and it was very live. At a different time. Brooklyn is still live. But the time we grew up in was very hands-on. It was like, if you were not who you say you were, I wouldn’t say you’d get beat up but you’d get called out for being a false thing. That was not really accepted, like being a phony. That just gave me growing up, a different edge of militancy like let me stop playing because you can't play around out here. One of the hardcore eras. I'm glad I did that.

Validated: Tell me about you signing with All Entertainment Media Group. Is it just a record deal or does this deal encompass more things that you’ve got in the pipeline? Things that you are planning on doing. What's the details behind the deal?

5ive Mics: This deal is futuristic number one. It's the first of its kind I think of, that I know of. I have a 50/50 partnership with them. We're just curating the biggest hottest New York City Hip-Hop albums that we heard in a decade. That's all we are trying to do. Me and Jeff and Brandon Steiner and everybody else, they just want to give me a chance. Somebody who's been in the culture for a long time that never really got a chance to get his stamp of approval or his just due. All Entertainment is giving me a chance to do that on the highest level there is. I'm going to do Jimmy Fallon. I'm gonna talk to him soon. But yeah I‘m going on Jimmy Fallon in like two weeks. Just dealing with certain things it just gives me a chance to elect the public and allow my music and my entertainment. I'm not just a rapper. I'm an Entertainer. I'm an actor. I'm a producer. I do so many different things. I’m a marketing expert, a marketing genius. So yeah, they just allowed me the chance for the world to be able to see what everybody has been seeing at a different level, at the lower level. Now it's time to go to the highest one. That's basically what’s going on with All Entertainment Media Group. And they're very good at what they do. I'm excited. 

I got my stuff. I didn't sell out. I got my Masters. You know all that shit man. We have a 50/50 split and there is money to get. You dig what I'm saying? 

Validated: Yeah, that's what it is man. That's the type of deal that you want man. You keep your creative control. You keep your Masters and they help you grow to that next level. That's what it is man. I know you've released a couple of singles in the past year or two. You had the “I'm a Rap Star” joint. You had the remakes. That definitely sounds like classic boom bap with that “Mardi Gras” sample up in there. Where did that DMX verse come from on that joint? 

5ive Mics: Yeah, it's crazy. Rest in peace DMX. Shout out to Caviar. Caviar is a secret specialist. DMX laid verse down that wasn’t DMX AI. DMX actually laid his verse down a few years before about maybe a year and a half to two years before he passed away. The song actually belonged to another rapper, Noreaga. Shout out to Nore. But basically the song never came out. I ended up with the record but the record didn't sound like that. It was a different record. Macy Gray was on the original record so I got her to come back and sing it over. We got X's verse, mixed it, brought it to a different level to where it sounds now. It's like one of the best X verses we heard in years. 

Especially with the mix, it's fire. I added Fat Joe. Fat Joe's my brother. He's a big supporter. I'm a big supporter of him. TS for life. I added Fat Joe for more Hip-Hop aspects. I had put Little Mama on the remix for the female aspects of Hip-Hop. And then put Macy Gray and then we added Kid Capri to put even more of a Hip-Hop stamp of approval for the 50 Years Years of Hip-Hop. So it just turned into one of those records. The original records inspired me too. I feel like those records later on will get more props. I feel it's okay but it's like that record it's like a personal record. I feel like later on it might get a little more recognition than it's getting right now but people love it but I just want it much bigger.

Validated:  Another one that you had released a while back “The Pump Up the Volume” joint. I noticed a theme in your music man where you salute classic Hip-Hop you know what I mean? Boom Bap Hip-Hop, New York Hip-Hop. I'm sure that's going to be a recurring theme on this new album. But how important is that to you to keep that New York sound of Hip-Hop alive? 

5ive Mics: That's where we come from. That's where we are. That's what's in our blood and veins. It's great that some of the masses and some of the popular people in high places decided to play different music in different regions, which is great. But I'm just more focused on our core sound. If someone says, “Well you know that's the old New York”. Well then, we're enhancing it. It's the new New York. Now we're tweaking. What y'all want to hear? Y'all want to hear some 808s on it but we're still going to tell stories. We're still going to talk articulately. We're still gonna turn up. We might make a dangerous song. But it's not going to be a bunch of blibber blabber bullshit. It's going to be a piece of art that's prolific and something that represents New York. Even if it is a new language or new lingo. It has to be well thought out, a great piece of intellectual property bro. It just has to be great art, and I’ve always had great art. And even the artists are so versatile and when you look at a person like Method Man, you look at um just the versatility a New York rapper like a Jadakiss. And Jadakiss is more of a simple one but he's so lyrical and so tactical with his wordplay, and as a superhero you gotta watch Busta Rhymes. It's like look at Fat Joe, you see these names, they're such an artist. These people I'm naming. So you know they take the craft seriously. And that's why I feel like New York music needs to reflect that as well. And I'm not saying nothing about the rappers in New York that make other sounding music, whether it's drill or whether it's on some pop shit. I'm not saying no stupid shit like that, because that's where I'm at with it. But what I am saying is the vibration has to change. And the vibration that we're on right now is definitely the high vibration of early New York City frequency waves, enhanced a little bit if you don't know. We're looking for the new Wu-Tangs. We're looking for the new Rock-A-Fella Records. The new this, the new that. In order to get that we're returning back to certain frequencies that bring the vibrations up, not down. 

Validated: No doubt. What's your earliest memory of Hip-Hop? 

5ive Mics: I remember Hip-Hop from the Sugar Hill era. I was born in 1984. I wasn't in High School or nothing but I remember hearing that, seeing that and catching that. I remember going down the timeline even if I was years behind or a few years late, I remember. I'm such a connoisseur and such a person of Hip-Hop. I remember everything. I don't know because like I said when you say the first. I could probably answer that question if you ask me what was the first time that I was like “I love this shit.” As I got older I appreciated Rakim and everybody from that era as I got older as a teenager. But a lot started with Michael Jackson too and I'm not trying to be funny either. 

Biggie Smalls, Tupac, Jay-Z of course that whole era of certain artists. Too Short, Bun B and Pimp C affected me too. There were a few people that I saw. Not to be funny, TI is my brother. It sounds cliche but TI was another artist that early on, when I watched, I was really captivated. And even though I had a love for Hip-Hop before TI, I was at an age when TI came out and certain stuff that affected me more than other stuff you know what I mean? And now as an older person, now as I look at Hip-Hop as a whole now, I have my favorite eras. I have eras that I feel like outweigh others and stuff like that.

Validated: You always talk about having a very big background trusting your faith. Where does that come from? Did you grow up in the church? I know you're a Five Percenter and I know what that's like as well. But where does the faith come from now that you're at a certain level and how do you keep that faith strong? 

5ive Mics: Well, I definitely grew up in the church. I've been to many churches and I went through many religions because growing up first we were Catholic in the hood. My mom used to take us to the Catholic Church. I remember complaining to my mom, “I don't like this church mom. I don’t want to come here.” Just the fact that I didn't like the Catholic Church. I remember my moms you know she got more enlightened now so we ain’t doing the Catholic thing no more. Then we started going to the Baptist Church. Then I went to Connecticut. I was with a white family, my step family. I love them to death. I say white family not to categorize them, and make it sound like I don't love them but I love them. I'm silly like that. But my family in the suburbs that adopted me, I love them. Shout out to Dola and Tanya. They raised me for a certain period of my life. They were Baptist. Pastor Frank was somebody I tuned in to listen to. I have my father as Godbody. I always had faith in the beginning. I feel like I'm God's child. Like I'm a chosen one. I'm a chosen one. I'm a special being. Nobody's perfect. I haven't done everything perfect in my life. I had a dark side early on. But I was always a person that was so in tune with God. I never ever could really cross over. Even if I did something bad. Whether I shot somebody, beat somebody up, robbed somebody it didn't matter. It was in self-defense or in survival. I never woke up to anything malicious in my life. We do have codes and rules to everything. I grew up militant and I just feel a connection with God. But one thing about me God showed me what I'm here for and he did it in front of the world. For people that don't know or people that do know I was in the music business a long time and I kept my faith and God allowed me the lane to do it how I wanted to. He already did it. Right now I'm on my second album that’s like big and everything but like I already made millions. I already rapped with some of the people I always wanted to rap with. I already fucking shut down Louis stores. I already fucked the baddest bitches in America. All these things are done. Right now this is just destiny stuff now. Now it's like I'm supposed to be rapping. I already knew that. God put me here to do this. It wasn't just like a fluke because my last album did 7 million streams. It makes over $15,000 a month independently. So it doesn't matter. That shit did what it's supposed to do and I think it's a classic. For me to be coming back again with another album and still have the New New York label on with Busta Rhymes, like again and that's a lot. And when I play many records for you, you're gonna see I'm not bugging like these shits are crazy. 

Validated: For the people that don't know the story we know that you got you know some of your bread in the beginning from a beer company that you netted about eight million from. You went through a hard time trying to get that money. I heard you tell this story about how you had lost one of the certificates and then you had a background with a criminal record, and nobody believed that this was actually your money and that this stock had matured. After you got that money how long did it take for you to adjust to having that kind of money? And then what was the most valuable lesson that you had to learn to keep that money? 

5ive Mics: Well, I'm still traumatized. I'm traumatized for the rest of my life till I die man because it's like God came out the sky and talked to me when that shit happened. It was so surreal and so real and so like I know it's a God. And I know like you see what I'm saying? I can't explain it bro. It's like one day like God let you fly around the city for like 20 minutes. Some people might have seen it like nah bro I actually took off and he let me. Nobody can't tell you shit no more. So it's like from that perspective God showed me that it's so real and I'm still traumatized. I'll never ever look at life the same ever again. And another thing that probably doesn’t get publicized much, but I was making money for a long time before I got into stocks. I never was like a bum ass nigga. Like even when I was a bum ass nigga I never was like one of those guys. I always had potential. Even if I had the same clothes on for a couple days everybody knows 5ive gon figure it out. But I always had spurts and times in my life where I always had money cause I've always been a hustler. That's where faith comes in. I always had faith and kept a little something. If you have nothing great, keep going bro, keep working. Don't fucking bitch about it. You have nothing but if you work you'll get something and something builds up. And if you get faith in God he will give you favor. If you don't believe and you don't work, you won't get shit and you won't succeed. It's like that simple, ABCs, one, two, three. Some people don't understand that shit. And when you understand like nah listen right now I'm going to put that work in. “How long it's going to take?” It might take a year. Who gives a fuck? Put the work in, lock in and you'll be alright because you're putting in work in. This shit is like mathematics and physics bro. You put the work in, you get a certain thing back. And some people don't understand that. They want to put a little bit of work in and try to time the universe. Like you can't fucking do that. You just got to go and you'll get repaid when you get repaid. 

Validated: I know you said on your joint “Holy Ghost,” you've been getting money, you don't care about selling music. You’ve got the Hip-Hop Pizza - 5ive Slices, you got your own ice cream flavors. What are some other business endeavors that you're currently into that we should be on the lookout for? 

5ive Mics: Right now I got my own sneakers with Starbury. Shout out to Stephon Marbury, you go to my link in my bio right now click them you get them online. Pick your flavor shoe you want. But the Starbury Brand, the Xavier 3s, they're amazing. I got my own, like I said I got my own pairs coming out. I'm head of marketing as well. I'm just partnering up as a friend, as a brother and also as an artist and entertainer. So I'm really strong behind the sneakers. They are A1 quality. It's not like some bullshit sneaker from Payless or something like that. No bro. Top-top super fire joints. The culture will pick up eventually. This is not even something that we're trying to fake. We got the shoes. You want them, go get them, they're hot and the culture once they start accepting them, like we are not coming to bring no bullshit. I got the Vegan Splash. I'm opening a clothing store with the Xavier 3s and I'll be selling. Shout out to Giani Taylor. I will be selling vintage clothing, Hip-Hop clothing, real shit. Louie, Gucci and shit from the 80s and 90s that you'll never find anywhere. You can't get a duplicate. They won't be able to do it like the way we do it. This is the original. It's that Dapper Dan, It's that original Harlem fit you authentic fabric. It's not a game. I'm opening the store and have that kind of stuff going on. I got films, production. I'm just trying to be an all around Hustler. Yeah like I said I got the film coming. I’ve got a documentary coming. The documentary is one of the most important things even to me, even bigger than my album because my actual story is told the way I want it to be told. Because my story will be told for years and years to come. And I want to tell my own version at least one time. 

Validated: I know you said the album's coming on 5/16/24. Tell us the name of the album and tell us all of the features and the producers that you worked with on the album? 

5ive Mics: All right well the name of the album is called The Drop Is In. My Name is Big Drop. It's my alter ego I guess if you want to say or my aka Big Drop. The drop is in. It’s an urban catchphrase that I made up. You could get your new kicks from the store. Oh drop is in. You get an email. You could fucking get a DM. The drop is in, you get paid at work at your regular cubicle job, get your paycheck. Oh the drop is in. You know what I'm trying to say? And when I call something the big drop, and the reason I call something a big drop, some people might not really get it but if you were following 5ive Mics early on, I told people that I was going to make it one day. I told people I have faith and I always put content up and it always looked like maybe one day I’ll get something going. And I did get something going. And when I did, the drop came son, the big drop. And that's it. I call myself the Big Drop. By the way I see Kai Cenat, whatever his name. I don't have no problem. I love him. He's funny as hell. I have no problem with the young niggas. I hope he sees this. He got a homeboy that they called a Big Drop. I don't know his name but like Kai Cenat got the homeboy called Big Drop. And it's like there's only one Big Drop. I know his homeboy.. But like come on man it's all good. This is the real world. So I'm not gonna freak out like “Yo it's already one Big Drop”. But  I'm not gonna stress it, but let's just be gentlemen. Let's keep it efficient. But I support that movement. I think they're funny as hell. But yeah he gotta get a new nickname for sure.

Validated: All right so I know you always big up TI. And I know that you guys are like family for real. I've heard you say that you know there was a point in your life when you lived with TI and the whole nine yards. Have you guys ever thought about doing a podcast together? Because y'all both charismatic as fuck. Y'all both funny as fuck. Has that ever crossed your mind? 

5ive Mics: I'm on a couple episodes of his podcast. I’m co-hosting a little bit. I would do any type of work with TI if he wanted to. He'll just call me up and say, “5ive I want to do this”. If I thought it was dope which I probably would, it's my boy I would do it. But as far as the podcast and stuff yeah he got his own podcast. But we got to figure out how the show is going to be because I'm a big talker. Me and him probably argue most of the show. That's my boy. Like we would debate and argue most of the show. But I think it would be banging for sure. 

Validated: So you've got all these great relationships in this game and I've heard you talk about  how people helped you when you were going through some things early on like Wood Harris, Mike Epps, TI and Jim Jones and stuff like that when you were coming up. What do these relationships mean to you now that you're on the other side of the struggle?

5ive Mics: I'm like a mafia guy bro in fact I didn’t say mafia, I said I'm like a mafia guy. Relationships are priceless. I'm appreciative to be acknowledged. I think that those guys you named I'm also a friend to them as well. I think that's a real thing. I’m a lot of people's friends too. I got a lot of mentors, a lot of OGs that help me and show me respect but I'm also a good friend to those people as well. I'm a spiritual guy. We feed off each other and we're family. I'm on this side now. I want to give a little more props. I have always been saying this but like they should get more props. Yeah a lot of the OG’s that fuck with 5ive Mics, and cosigning 5ive Mics, working with 5ive Mics organically and keeping official that's what this is about. That's what the game is about and to see that actually take place with me yeah I deserve praise, deserve acknowledgement and it's pretty dope to be in that position. But I will say like I'm definitely playing the part though. I definitely make it easy too, you heard. 

Validated: Up until this point what has been your most memorable moment as an artist in the industry?

5ive Mics: What a crazy question. At the end of the day “New New York” with Fat Joe was one of the pivotal moments in the New York history of Hip-Hop. Like I said we ain’t gon to talk about it now, we going to talk about it though. Fat Joe I think when we did Times Square it was TI, Trae the Truth, Nems. So many different artists and rappers came out and we all were in Time Square as one. And we did “New New York” with me and Fat Joe. I feel like that was the day I felt like wow you know the police, every fucking body's out here. That was pretty dope to be an independent artist coming from off the street and be able to pull like those type of people out and be able to do something for Hip-Hop all from different places. It was just dope. And it also showed that the alliance like that’s Atlanta, that's Houston, that's Florida. All these different places. All in Times Square in New York. I thought that was dope and it also shows that we all, that everybody appreciates Hip-Hop. And that was like for 50 years of Hip-Hop. So it's like the early fuse of certain energy. 

Validated: Hip-Hop turned 50 last year in the spirit of that man, our culture is still really young when you think about longevity as far as music and everything. But in the spirit of Hip-Hop being 50 years old what does Hip-Hop mean to you?

5ive Mics: Hip-Hop is my life. Hip-Hop is everything to me. It's one of my favorite things I ever did or been a part of. And know Hip-Hop's a lifestyle bro. It's the only music that’s a lifestyle. Hip-Hop is the future and people might not understand it. But it's like 50 years later Hip-Hop is alive and well. It's going to keep getting bigger and keep evolving. But it's very important to protect the code of Hip-Hop, the energy of Hip-Hop. A lot of people get mad at me, “Yo 5ive Mics who the fuck is you to call out this one? Who the fuck is you to say what Hip-Hop is?” Well, I'll tell you who the fuck I am away from a rapper. I'm a fucking fan of Hip-Hop. You don't have to be much. You don't have to have a platinum album to tell somebody what the fuck is Hip-Hop and what is not. I'm not against people growing. I'm not against music having dynamics. I'm not against overcoming oppression. But we're not going to have our fucking Hip-Hop emcee's wearing dresses and holding microphones kicking it to the public. If you want to wear a dress and kick some shit go ahead, there's so many different things But you won't be a part of Hip-Hop doing it because we don't need that. Like that's the thing, it's like yo we're here to do something to elevate the culture. Oh it's rap. It's this. It's that. It's also education. It's also influence, it's also a big part of a fucking fabric. So to get up here and say, “Well Imma do this and do that’. Yeah you could do it. Hey look you're raping go ahead do it. You're entertaining, go ahead. But you're not fucking Hip-Hop. “Oh well the Hip-Hop is bias”. Yes nigga the Army is biased. Navy is biased. You can’t go to these places and do what the fuck you want. And am I the all say be all of Hip-Hop? Fuck no. It's a part of it. And I'm allowed to speak up if I fucking want to. Not only that as a fan but as a participant, as a rapper and someone behind the scenes. I've been behind the scenes for 20 years with some of your favorite fucking artists. I was in the studio with Lil Wayne when he did The Carter II. I was in the studio with TI when he did Paper Trail. I keep going on and on and on about how many Legends I was there with when they did something, the hottest records that they ever did in their life. I'm definitely a Hip-Hop baby and yeah Hip-Hop is everything to me. 

Validated: Final message man, what do you want to say to the people out there and what's the ultimate 5ive Mics message man that you wanna leave with the masses when this is all said and done and you return to the essence what's the message that 5ive Mics wants to leave behind for the people? 

5ive Mics: Well first of all always keep your faith and be great. Don't try to be great. Don't try to do anything. Just fucking be great, be excellent and believe in yourself. Don't wait for someone else to tell you you're hot. Wake up in the morning, look in the mirror and say you're hot and then you fucking do it and do it a 1000% because 100% is not good enough. I can also say that I'm living proof that with having faith you get anything you want in life and if you don't believe just just look at my story or look at what I'm about to do in the next couple years. It’s just what it is.