Ahzay (Frederick, NY) – Q&A Interview
Tell us a little about yourself. Where you are from? How long have you been making Hip Hop?
What’s up world! I go by Ahzay. I’m an entertainer, I act, make music, host shows. I was born and raised in Frederick, MD.
Now how long I’ve been making hip hop is a tough question, ha. I began rhyming back in high school but it wasn’t even meant to be “rap”. In the DMV, there is a phenomena called “joaning” and we use to just go at it all the time. “Ya head look like a dry sponge like s*** boi”, just crazy stuff like that. One day I got creative and recorded a short tape ironically called “Joanin” on my computer and just made fun of the crew. People thought it was laughable, some even bought it and put it on their phones. I never wrote an actual song until Sophomore year of college. I was bored in the hotel at an away football game in St. Lawrence, and me and one of best friends Bonez were just chopping it up talking about life and I was inspired to write.
What influences you in making Hip Hop?
Honestly, as a social person I used to make music just to entertain people. Make them laugh, dance, stuff like that. But now, I use Hip Hop and music in general as a personal outlet. I find that my best work comes from experiences.
Describe your music, and what separates you from other MCs?
I grew up listening to a wide range of music with my father. Man, he played everything from back in the day. The Dells, Naughty by Nature, Journey and SO many more I can’t even begin to name them all. My mom loves gospel, Canton Spirituals, Shirley Caesar, etc. I was around them all the time so naturally I picked up a taste for all sorts of music. So now my biggest influences (and this changes all the time) are Sade, Rick Ross/Kendrick/Drake (as rappers) and Michael Jackson. Because of my diverse ears, I think that comes out in the type of songs I make. That’s how I can go from a pure hip hop track like “Loko” to a club song like “uLike” then an RnBish track like “Victory” with JChris. You’ll never really know what to expect from me.
Who have you collaborated with? Who would you like to collab with in the near future?
Aww man I’ve collaborated with so many talented people already. Sola Reign out of Toronto, I really enjoy her movement. Alexandra Poindexter from Indiana, I think the world of her, ha. BFlat out of PA as well he’s the man he does additional vocals for me and mixed most of the album. Oshayne, my brother Mi’llion, sheesh I feel like I’ve worked with Def Jam already. As far as who I would like to collab with soon? Anyone making dope music.
Your definition of “Underground Hip Hop”?
Tough, Underground Hip Hop for me was always considered to be a pool of talented artist who are still waiting for their time to shine. I’m starting to see that it’s kind of a culture.
Production wise, who are your influences? Who does your production? And who would you like to work with?
This goes back to what I said earlier, I like it all really. My day one Polo the Gawd does a solid amount of my production. I hit him up like three days before my album came out and told him man, I don’t have an intro track and all he said was “I got you”, clutch. I really enjoy BlackThunder’s production. I tell him all the time that he’s never sent me a beat I didn’t like, ha. YachtMansion has produced some cool stuff for me too and he’s another one, I enjoy watching what he’s doing with his music as well. ‘mjNichols’ and Lexi Banks are some really good producers who I’ve bumped into on the net. It’s something I think about quite often, if I ever do make it somewhere I really would like to just stick to working with these folks.
Any current or future projects you are promoting?
The Routine is it for me. This is the project I’m pushing until the last alien on Mars has heard it. As an upcoming artist, I’ve learned that it’s important to make a solid product and roll with it until you’ve maxed it out. This summer, I plan on doing some really top knotch things with select songs from the album. Stay tuned for that. Until then I’ll just be doing features, helping others with their projects.
Can you give us a brief description of the creative process of The Routine LP? Also/ what was the idea or concept description about your Album Art Cover.
The process was long and easy. Weird, but yeah. So until The Routine, I dropped a mixtape and two “projects”. They were cool but one of my listeners challenged me to make an actual body of work. I respected that and went to work on it that day. Then I just started collecting beats and getting ideas from that. Made a couple songs and realized yeah, I could tell my own story about the college experience. That’s where the artwork comes from, struggling with Christianity and the night life. It was a long process just trying to go with the best tracks, but creatively it was easy since it was all about me.
Where can we find your music and info?
Youtube – S. Ahzay (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxDMvRnWdlEm9wApSD_6row/videos)
Twitter – @SirAhzay
IG – Ahzay_
BandCamp – (http://mccolors.bandcamp.com/album/the-routine)
Or just google me, ha.
Any shout outs?
Of course! Shout out to my team Jonathan Laster and Cue with Senior Project. Shout out to my DJ Sirius Joi. Shout out to my brothers Killa Kirbz, Tayo Jimoh and the rest of the 600 Boyz. Farooq, Zana and anyone else who helped with the album. Rob Chen and BDubD for always helping out. Lastly, I would just like to thank EVERYONE providing motivation to continue. I’ve found that you get just as much motivation from people who don’t support you as from the people that do.
