Adam BernardThose living in the Mid-West already know the name Potzee, and the way his song “Dat Girl” is tearing up radio the rest of the country will be finding out about him any minute now. The St. Louis native’s bouncy club hit has him on the verge of becoming the next big thing to come out of The Lou. He has a deal with Asylum, he has his own label with Murphy Lee, U C Me Entertainment, and he has an album on the way that he feels has something for everybody and every mood. Make no mistake, Potzee is poised to make some major moves in 2006, which is exactly why we sat down with him to get the full story on who Potzee is and what he’s all about.
Adam Bernard: Let’s start out with the basics, who is Potzee? Where are you from and how did you get your start in Hip-Hop?
Potzee: I’m from St. Louis Missouri, I say it in my raps, I was born and raised in U-City but got grown in J-Town. I was born in University City, that’s where I went to school. I left my sophomore year and went to Jennings. The music thing just kinda been in my family for the longest. My old dude used to sing, my daddy had a chance to make it when The Ohio Players were doing their thing but due to some of the people around him they missed their chance. I used to sing when I was younger and when I got older and got into high school and I got a chance to see the females liking people rapping I got into it. My first rap amazed me and it’s been on ever since. I didn’t get deep into it until I left U-City. Right now, to this day I’m the new ambassador of St. Louis, the St. Louis patriot. The best thing Asylum could have did to get some outrageous money in their pocket. I come from a background of good music, during the time that my daddy was singin and the kind of music that he listened to, it was during the time where you had to be exceptionally good to get into the industry you couldn’t just be alright, now you can be alright and get rich.
AB: Being from St. Louis, what kind of Hip-Hop scene did you grow up in?
P: Around here we really didn’t see a whole lot of people get rich. We had Early D and we had a few people who did some things around here, Silver Spoon had a chance but they never really did hit it big. So around here we had the people that we saw on TV. I’m a big fan of Outkast, of Pac, Biggie, I liked Biggie but I felt Pac more than I did Biggie. To be honest, Biggie was overrated to me. I loved Biggie, he was, he’s still one of the best, but when he was alive I liked Jay-Z better than I liked him. We came up with the fourth specter of Hip-Hop. We watched the east coast start it and have their reign, even up north with MC Breed and Eminem, all them had their turn. Up north, people forget about DFC and MC Breed. Then you got the West Coast did their thing, Death Row. We had the chance to watch everybody so that’s why right now with it being our time, we’re in the middle so we don’t have one set sound. We have a new sound because it’s a mixture of everything. That’s why I think Nelly is such a good artist because he can go country singin on you, he can go Hip-Hop, he can go rap, he can go a little street. People say he ain’t street with it but if you listen he says the same things Jay-Z says but in the lifestyle of a St. Louis guy. With the metaphors and everything, when you think Hip-Hop, a lot of people, if you don’t have a thousand metaphors for them they say you’re not Hip-Hop. That’s like saying Shaq’s not human because he’s bigger than the average. He’s still human. Life evolves, everything evolves and changes and it’s not nothin that goes on that doesn’t change over time so everything that’s coming out is Hip-Hop. And right now they’re trying to throw R&B into Hip-Hop but Hip-Hop is actually rap and you can have an R&B Hip-Hop feel but they are literally almost making Hip-Hop to where it’s just black music. Slowly but surely, I’m paying attention, like Mary J Blige is R&B Soul, she’s not Hip-Hop. You can give her R&B Hip-Hop but she’s not Hip-Hop and I’m starting to hear a lot of critics say about R&B artists, “the new Hip-Hop artists.” Anything within the realm of the lyrical, the rapping, to me that’s Hip-Hop. Now it may have started with the metaphors and everything and even had a message at one point, now some people do some people don’t. There’s been talk of girls and money from the jump, Sugar Hill Gang, everybody, it just was a different way to do it, but it’s grown now so you have to expect that extra.
AB: Your first single is “Dat Girl,” a bouncy club tune.
P: The buzz song was “Good Evening” and we’re actually going to try and come back with that because that was such a big song, the DJ’s loved it and everybody that heard it loved it, it’s an anthem. “Dat Girl” was the one that did the club. I’m a new artist so I have to grab attention first. Not only am I new, I’m from a city where you don’t have many artists from. We have a few, but how many people can you really name? Domino was from here but he didn’t even claim the city.
AB: What else can people expect from your album, Hongree?
P: Everything. I have stuff that you can cry to. I have stuff that will make you smile. I have stuff that you can have sex to. I just tried to make it well rounded. St. Louis had a chance to watch everybody’s energy so now it’s like we’ve got that glow, so that’s exactly what I’m trying to do with my album, that you get everything that you need, you have a complete album. Like T.I., his album is complete to me, you have your real songs, you have your political touches, you have the stuff for the ladies, you have the stuff that your momma can listen to, you have your stuff that’s like celebrating actually having a good life now, he made it well rounded where everybody could listen. Right now a lot of artists are not selling that good because they can’t appeal to the widespread audience. It try to make sure I have something for everybody. I try not to over-exaggerate anything. With the song “Good Evening” people can relate to me, I’m speaking on everyday life, you can relate to everything I’m saying, you can feel my music and that’s my whole thing I want you to feel it and it’s so well rounded. I want my first album to be considered classic, I could fall short but I don’t think so, we’re definitely going to be nominated for album of the year. If we don’t get it we’re gonna be nominated, that’s a definite. There’s a shortage of, I won’t say good music, there’s a shortage of artists because there’s some stuff you like to hear in the club but you don’t like to hear when you’re riding in your car, or when you wake up in the morning, and then when you put on their CD they have the same thing. Nah, I got something for every situation. You wake up and you’re having a bad day, good day, somebody just beat you up, whatever the case is I got something for you to feel that’ll touch you.
AB: What other qualities do you feel make an album a classic?
P: Consistency in your album. Can you put 16 songs on there and people listen all the way through and only skip one, maybe two songs, if any? I could put 23 songs on there and if you don’t listen to all of them it’s because you don’t have enough time in the car. I have the music. I step outside of myself and listen to myself. I actually pay attention to what will work for me now and I can see what will work for me in the wintertime. I study it. But it’s hard to find consistency right now in the industry and that’s why you have so many one hit wonders, people who give you one single and try another one and that second single you barely see it because the video only plays a couple times and they get a few spins and it’s gone.
AB: Which artists do you feel are really doing it?
P: T.I., Outkast, Lil’ Wayne, Common, Kanye, I respect everybody for what they’re doing. I’m pretty much feelin everybody because even if I can’t vibe to ya when I’m having a problem you might have something I the club that I like, so I’m pretty much feeling everybody but when it’s well rounded, Outkast is the epitome of it, period. I don’t follow their steps but you watch them, they always comin new. No album is like that last one and that’s what counts. They have something to say, they know to have fun at the club and they also can be what people say is real Hip-Hop with the metaphors and just goin at you, they can do all that.
AB: Where do you feel you fit in in today’s current Hip-Hop scene?
P: I fit in with the album sellers Kanye gave the game a breath of fresh air. I’m kind of the around the way guy. Right now you don’t have too may people that everybody can listen to. Where I fit in is in the bunch of people that make good music and complete music. It’s hard to find a complete album right now. I say on one of my songs that a lot of people don’t get no CD sales, they get the bootleg sales because all you deserve is five dollars. Nobody’s making complete albums of music or even worrying about what they’re actually pumping out over the radio and over the TV, they’re just trying to make themselves dance. Everybody gotta kick it but man there’s more it if I’m going to spend my ten, fifteen, maybe twenty dollars on one CD in a time when there really is a shortage of money you better make sure that it’s a good CD. That’s why people like Mary J. Blige and T.I. selling as much as they do that first week. But that actual stuff that you can only listen to in the club, they get minimal sales, but they get a lot of popularity, which is not a bad thing because we’re all trying to eat off this so to each his own.
AB: What do you feel is the biggest issue affecting Hip-Hop today?
P: Outside of getting the bootleg, anybody can get it, you don’t have to be excellent, they don’t make you have to be good. If you have something that’s catchy and you can be popular and it’s cool, the label can get their money off of you as a write off or they can get their money off of you as you sellin, you take your pick, but either way it goes they’re gonna be alright. Right now that’s the whole big problem, it’s more of a hustle in the business to everybody than it is them caring about what they’re doin, their music. I take time with mine, I’m not writing a verse till I get that hook done.
AB: Finally, if you could smack some sense into any MC or producer who would it be and why?
P: Jay-Z. {*laughing*} Because it’s not time for him to go. He was one of the few that did give complete albums and now he’s sittin back and as an artist I do understand you’re not trying to be an artist forever. Me, myself, I don’t want to rap forever, it’s a stepping stone. You do this and you get here, you do this and you get here. We’re in the pros now so once you get in the pros it’s about a business so I understand that but it’s like anybody that’s really into the Hip-Hop they miss him. Some of these younger kids ain’t getting him, they miss him. I’ll smack the shit outta him for the simple fact that, why you leavin now? You can do what you’re doin from the office and still be productive with this music and it’s obvious because he dips and dabs out here when he get ready already. It might be all strategy, but right now it’s like aaah, you’re backing out now? I literally don’t have a lot of people that I can listen to, like that guy Young Joc, that guy, I heard his album, he’s gonna be a good addition to the game, too.