BELOW ZERO INTERVIEW 4/6/09
I2G’s own Justin Melo hooked up with a three-man aspiring group out of Kentucky who is currently making some major moves in the rap game and uniquely enough for an independent tandem, business ventures and endorsement deals as well.
We’re talking about Below Zero who’s receny smash single, “New Era” has caught the attention of the New Era hat company themselves, paving the way for Below Zero to land themselves a lucrative and friendly deal with the major hat corporation.
Coming up in Kentucky is no easy task for a hungry Hip-Hop group, a state where many rap fans don’t really assoicate with the Hip-Hop culture; we learn all about this group’s rising in Kentucky and what it took for them to get to the spot they’ve arrived at.
We of course get all the details on their upcoming album, “Cold Boy Muzik” so be on the lookout for that and plenty more in this I2G interview…
Justin: We are here with B-Easy, Da Child and Doughboi – collectively known as Below Zero, an up and coming group out of Kentucky; how are you guys doing right now?
Below Zero: We’re all right; how about you homie?
Justin: I’m doing well, thank you. First off, where does the Below Zero name come from? How did you guys come up with that?
Below Zero: It’s just the way, our style of rap. We feel like everything we do is cold. And we feel we’re the coldest group in the rap game. That’s why we named the group Below Zero.
Justin: That’s fresh and unique. Tell us about growing up in Kentucky and what the Hip-Hop scene is like out there?
Below Zero: Well the scene is a little different. I mean, there weren’t too many independent artists or labels going at it. Once one group got in, it kind of inspired lots of other cats to get they stuff together and try to come out and do their thing. We’ve actually been doing this since 2000, 2001. We were all-together in High School and formed the group. We’ve been putting everything together since then, slowly – but we’re ready now.
Justin: The group has been together for about 7-9 years now. What would you say is the biggest change you’ve seen in the music industry from the time you first formed the group up until now?
Below Zero: How the independent grind goes. When we first started out, we put out an album, “Frost Bit” and as soon as we put it out, we sold about 5,500 copies out the trunk. Back then, it was a lot easier; you could go up to cats and get your music off. Now, it seems like everybody is rapping and everybody has a CD out. The consumers don’t want to just buy anything and they’re getting tired of music and CD’s was getting shoved down their throats.
From there, it went from albums to mix tapes. After 50 [Cent] got his buzz with the mix tapes, and [Young] Jeezy. After that, everybody started doing mix tapes instead of doing albums.
Now, it’s digitally. It’s not even so much physical; it’s about what’s on the Internet.
Justin: That was a great timeline; you appropriately arrived at the digital age and I’d agree that’s where we’re at right now; what do you think the digital age has done to the Hip-Hop game?
Below Zero: I think it’s helped it. A lot of cats didn’t have the money to press up a certain number of CD’s. If you have a hot record or even a couple of records, you can post them on the Internet where people hear music, places such as Myspace and everything. You can get your buzz that way. Also, you can even sell ring tones, and singles on Itunes now. A lot of people said it hurt, but I think it helped a lot of people. We’re from Bowling Green, Kentucky – we don’t even have a radio station. For people in California to know Below Zero means a lot to us, and it only happened through the Internet. “New Era” got really big on Myspace on the web, that’s kind of how we branched out.
Justin: We’re going to get into the whole New Era song and hat deal shortly. The group has been working with Joel Hopper, a Nappy Roots affiliated producer. Being from Kentucky, how do you feel the Nappy Roots opened the doors for groups such as yourself and other aspiring artists from Kentucky?
Below Zero: I feel like Kentucky is kind of overlooked. When those guys broke the doors , the focus kind of shifted a little bit. People realized “oh ok, Kentucky is doing a little something.” It also inspired other cats to go hard in the studio, and made them realize “I can do this too.”
Justin: Ok. You mentioned not even having a radio station out in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Did that make your independent grind that much more difficult when you first formed the group?
Below Zero: We have a radio station but it’s not a major radio station. It definitely makes it a lot harder; we have to go a lot of places. If you live in Atlanta, you step outside your doorstep and go to the grocery store, you may see Lil’ Jon or anybody. But for us, we have to get on the road and travel. We have to go everywhere. If labels are interested, not just our city, our state – we have to hold our whole region down. It made it a lot harder but it makes you learn the business. We know the grind and we’re not scared to grind; we’re not scared to go to different cities and post up on people’s blocks and get our music heard and go to the club and kick it in different places. It definitely makes it a lot harder.
Justin: You guys have a hot record out right now, “New Era.” A video for the song appeared on www.worldstarhiphop.com and has gained over 100,000 views so far; tell us about this song and how it came about?
Below Zero: Well actually how it came about, we were doing a joint venture, production deal with a company out in New York, and we all met in Louisville. After we were finished the deal, we were trying to celebrate and go to the club. We all had hats on and they wouldn’t let us in the club. With that being said, we decided to say “well we’re going to make it where you’re going let us wear our hats in the club” because we all rock New Era hats, we’ve been rocking hats for years. We always make sure each one of us has a fresh outfit, but we’re always going to have a hat to match, shoes to match; that’s just how we do it.
Our little cousin was like “they won’t let y’all in, show them how we do it by making a hot song about hats, and maybe they’ll allow y‘all to wear them in the club” and that’s what we did.
Justin: Ok. How do you think having the video appear on www.worldstarhiphop.comwith that many views helped broaden and widen your fan base? Have you seen those positive effects already?
Below Zero: Yeah. We’re getting a lot of calls and emails about the video. The whole thing about that video, we shot that video ourselves. We did the treatment together; it was a team effort. For us to put out a video that we feel can compete with the major videos out there, we feel really good about that. This video looks like everything you see on TV; it doesn’t look like no bootleg or no bullshit. We’re just excited about that. We feel like we understand what it takes to compete and that’s just from the long grind we’ve been on.
When we put the song out, New Era flew us out to California and that’s how we got our hat deal with New Era.
Justin: We’re about to get into the hat deal. The song paved the way for the New Era hat deal that the group has landed. Give us more of an in-depth explanation regarding how that deal came about?
Below Zero: Well the hat deal came about like, they [New Era] heard the song and flew us out to California. We got to perform the song for the company CEO and all their executives all over the world for their company. They actually asked us “what can we do to re-pay y’all?” they flew us out there and put us in some nice resorts. We were telling them that we rock New Era all the time but we’re from Kentucky and don’t have a sports team; we need our own New Era hat to represent our state and ourselves. We’ve been to New York a couple of times and I’m tired of wearing [New York] Yankee hats, and Atlanta hats when that’s not where we’re from or what we represent. They saw where we were going with it and they said we could get our own hat. That’s how the deal came about.
Justin: That’s a major deal. You guys are working on the album “Cold Boy Muzik.” Does the album have a home right now? What’s the label situation like right now?
Below Zero: We have our own label. We’re going to have the album ready with album covers, songs mixed and mastered; we’re hoping to put the album out in a few months. We’re going to put out our new single, “Swinging” first. If a label doesn’t want to get involved with us and doesn’t want to make any money, there tired of losing and they want to win – they’ll ride with us and if not, will just put the album out independently.
Justin: The album should be ready for a release date some time this summer?
Below Zero: July 21st.
Justin: Perfect. “Cold Boy Muzik” is an interesting album title; what’s the meaning behind that?
Below Zero: Being a cold boy is a way of life. Every song on there is cold. If we have 15 tracks on there, 15 tracks are cold. That’s why it’s called “Cold Boy Muzik.”
Justin: Ok. Tell us about the production team you worked with on the project.
Below Zero: Our partner Willy Will produced the “Swinging” record, that’s going to be the next banger; Willy Will produced “Ringtone” for R. Kelly along with Polow Da Don; he’s also done “Good Things” for Rich Boy and Keri Hilson – be on the lookout for that. We also have Philly Phil; he’s one of our in-house producers, all the way. Chris Rich, he produced about 3-4 tracks. And we’re working with a cat from the bay area named Vybe Beatz; we found him on www.soundclick.com and he has some serious heat. There’s good production on the album all the way through.
Justin: Will there be any guest appearances or is it just the group?
Below Zero: Right now, we kind of just did it by ourselves, to introduce the world to us. This is B-Easy, [Da] Child and Doughboi; will get more features going on down the road, but right now, we’re just trying to introduce the world to us.
Justin: Ok. “Swinging” is the next single from the album; is that going to be released anytime soon?
Below Zero: Yeah, the song is already done. Right now, we’re just kind of waiting because we did the “New Era” video. We didn’t want to put it all out together but we’re going to test it in the clubs around here before we crank it out; the world is going to be swinging when we drop it.
Justin: No doubt. The video for “New Era” even made its way out to the website for the Ozone Magazine just the other week. Tell us about that experience and what it felt like.
Below Zero: It felt good. Ozone always shows us love. We were nominated for an Ozone award last year; hopefully this year will win because they see the grind and they see what we have going on. Shouts out to Ozone Magazine because they always support us. They posted the video and showed us love.
Justin: A question I like to ask an independent group like yourselves, if I could grant one music-related wish to Below Zero; what would you guys pick?
Below Zero: To sell 11 million like 50 Cent. We would like more visibility on TV. When you watch videos and you watch MTV Jams, they pretty much show the same videos all day. Even with radio, you hear the same songs all day. It would be cool if they showed independents more love and mixed us into the rotation with everybody else.
Justin: I’m not mad at that; we’d all like to see the independents get some more love and more TV/radio exposure. You mentioned not having any sports teams out there; the NCAA March Madness tournament is currently under way; being from Kentucky, how do you like Louisville’s chances?
Below Zero: We’re rooting for Louisville; that’s who we’re rooting for right now.
Justin: You have them in your finals?
Below Zero: We got them in the finals beating North Carolina.
Justin: That’s my final as well! We appreciate your time Below Zero; do you have any last words or final statements before we let you go?
Below Zero: Tell the world to be on the lookout for us, Below Zero. “Cold Boy Muzik” – July 21st. And check out our page at www.myspace.com/below0.
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