King Nappo: Brooklyn Royalty

Words By David Lopez

Beginning to reap the the benefits of years of hard work, King Nappo is ready to be crowned by the people. The Brooklyn emcee was once affiliated with Jaz-O, and was one third of a Williamsburg, Brooklyn rap group called Rezavoir Dawgs. Despite creating a local buzz, the crew never materialied to achieve commercial success. And King Nappo, decided it was time to take his rap career in his own hands. While doing so he's afiliated himself with Heavy Hitter DJ Big Ben, who's Hot 97 radio show airs on Saturday Afternoons. Nappo is now featured on the the Heavyhitters Puertorican parade mixtape and Green Latern's Monster Mash mixtapes and his single "So VIP," has club rocker written all over it.

He's preparing the release of his debut Mixtape The Empire State, as an auditon for record labels and industry heads to take notice to his talent,as well as getting heads more familiar with him.

Entertainmentonfire.com introduces King Nappo, as he discusses his voyage to the throne.

Entertainmntonfire.com: Who is King Nappo?

King Nappo:I guess in the least amount of words i can say King NappO is a great artist.

Entertainmentonfire.com: What are you trying to do with this rap thing?

King Nappo: Well when I first started at the age of thirteen. I just wanted to be the best rapper I could possibly be, inspired by Public Enemy, Gang Starr and all other artists out at that time period, but now that im older and i've evolved so did hip hop, now its a billion dollar business and now im in a totally different mind frame now wut im tryin to do wit this rap thing is use it as a stepping stone to get into other areas that I have interests in like clothing, real estate etc. of course music is my 1st love, but im a man with many talents and i can rock many hats!!

Entertainmentonfire.com:What should people expect from your mixtape, the Empire State?

King Nappo:Honestly I know alot of dudes be like yo! im this, im that, my music is fire.. its hotter than the earths core while the devil is taking a shit in august!! blah blah blah...lol..im not even gonna sit here and say all that...what the people should expect from my cd is good music. dats it. oh! and with a couple surprises!

Entertainmentonfire.com:What are the obstacles new artists face?

King Nappo: DAMN!...i'll be here forever just venting about the industry...the whole shit is fucked up...A&R's dont know what the fuck they doing...asking other people for their opinions about music and on top of that some A&R's just get that position cause their somebodys man and dont necessarily have the credentials...dats why they'll tell you keep recording then come back cause while you(the artist) is busting ya ass recording..their running around asking other niggas if your shit is hot!..dont get me wrong..there are good A&R's...but there really are some bad ones. And now artists arent looked at as artists anymore..labels look at them as dollar signs..what the new artists have to realize now is that their an investment. labels look at you and say.."Hmmm..how can this artist double my money!!??".. as soon as you walk into a label they're looking at you from head to toe thinking how they're gonna market you. so your image gotta be on point. Some labels are scared to take a chance..they just dont wanna lose money but scared money dont make money! we all kno dat!! lol..but Some niggas get signed just cause they're buzzin' or have a crazy co-sign...or if all else fails they're jumpin on reality shows lol...anyway..im gonna stop there...i'll continue my ranting during the next interview lol

Entertainmentonfire.com How do you plan on overcoming them?

King Nappo:Man u just gotta grind..be in peoples faces, try to be everywhere...im hittin tha gym tryin to get in shape...which is hard cause i love my rice and beans!!! haha...but..you gotta sacrifice..sometimes when you wanna do something you love, you gotta sacrifice something of equal value. Im also doin shows, jumpin on mix cd's..learnin tha business cause thats what it is..its not about the music anymore...dont get me wrong it does help to be dope..but really helps to know your business. And now in this day and age the internet is a crazy sourse to have...we got Myspace, YouTube, iTunes..etc. and im not the only artists taking advantage of it, u also have 50cent and Cam'ron doin the same. so im tryin to overcome those obstacles in alot of ways...so far so good.

Entertainmentonfire.com: Describe your stlye?

King Nappo: My style changes with every beat I hear..I'll hear a track and what the beat calls for thats what I'll do..The Empire State CD will be droppin soon so I guess i'll let you and the listeners come to your own conclusions about my style. Ya'll got homework to do!!! True heat always Rises!!!! holla!!

Entertainmentonfire.com:What did you learn from your experiences working with Jaz-o and Rezavoir Dawgz?

King Nappo: The Jaz-O experiernce i prefer not to talk about but the Rezavoir Dawgz experience was dope but of course like any family it has its ups and downs but for the most part it was fun...and with being in a 3 man group you have to deal with 3 different personalities..so you definitely got to have patience and people skills because what you do and say with one person doesnt mean you can do the same with the next person and the one dude i think who knew that the most about us was our friend/manager and engineer Dj Playdoe from P.E.S Producksionz, he knew how to deal with our characters and still does lol..i also learned that business and friendship is a very delicate matter and some people cant seperate the two and i cant front it is hard but im able to do it and in this game you GOTTA be able to do so..but its far from over..dont get it twisted though!! the Dawgz are still up and runnin..and that consists of me..King NappO and my brother from another mother..Don Mills, who i might add is a motherf*ckin problem!!!...he's workin on his project as we speak..so be on the look out for him. If you think IM a problem...wait till you hear THAT man!! haha

Entertainmentonfire.com: "So VIP " is definetly a banger, what other tracks should people look out for?

King Nappo: Good lookin..but..theres more where that came from..other joints ya'll should look out for is a joint called "Dont Wanna Do That" which is currently on the new Dj Green Lantern "Monster Mash" CD...the record is HARD!!..if its played in the right club the right way somebody is gonna get hurt!! no joke!..when Green Lantern heard it he hit me back like "Yo that shit is hard it gotta be on my cd!!" haha and another joint is the Ne-Yo record titled "Put Your Hands up" featuring myself which is currently on the latest Heavy Hitter PR Parade Hot97 CD..now thats a club banger!!..matter of fact if ya'll check my myspace page ya'll will be able to download them. So enjoy and hit me with any feedback. www.myspace.com/nappsrd

Entertainmentonfire.com: Describe your relationship with Heavy Hitter DJ Big Ben?

King Nappo: Thats my nigga!!!..BUT..before i even go into all of that, i gotta mention that if it wasnt for the group a.k.a my niggas Hot2Def haha(which you can also check out at www.myspace.com/itshot2def , which is also the 1st unsigned group to perform at The Garden lol) i wouldnt of met Ben. It started out like.."oh thats Big Ben i wonder if he'll spin my record..NOW i can careless cause we actually clicked and became genuine friends. Real recognize real and we looked real familiar to each other haha..so everywhere he was spinnin he would take me with him, whether it was in town or out of town..and its been a wrap ever since...now we rockin hard body karate!!..haha..you see him..you'll see me and vice versa. hands down hes a good nigga cause he doesnt have to do anything for me cause he has his own thing goin on but he chose to let me rock with him and he's also hands on with The Empire State project..so for all that i'll forever be greatful.

Entertainmentonfire.com:What kind of exposure are you getting, any radio spins or mixtape appearances ?

King Nappo: Well for starters your website is one of them! haha..radio im not too concerned with right now..my main focus right now is gettin on Mixtapes, taking advantage of YouTube, and just being out there shaking hands and kissin babies as they say.


Entertainmentonfire.com: When is the mixtape going to drop and where can people get it?

King Nappo:I didnt wanna give myself a date cause i didnt wanna rush the music..its just that everywhere i go i get alot of love and people always asking when im droppin somthing...so now they know im definelty dropping somthing. Before I go, i just want to say thanks for the opportunity and thanx for taking an interest in the kid. " Entertainmentonfire!! True Heat Always Rises!!!! Holla!!