Neema earned his aka of MR 10K by selling over 10,000 independently.
Anyone who has ever pressed up an order of 1,000 albums understands that this is no easy task to accomplish. Selling that many albums as an independent takes a lot of hard work, discipline, patience and talent.
His new album Black Roses is out today. The album features Fatal Lucciano, Grynch, Sol, Mic Phenom, Dice and Wizdom amongst others, and he seems a little upset about the direction hip hop has been moving lately.
We’re glad Neema took the time to fill us in with the details.
Make sure you check him out at Neumo’s Tonight and Tomorrow night.
#OutHereSEA
So tell us about the new album.
I got the new album, it’s called Black Roses. This is definitely the darkest work of my career. A lot of people that know my music know that I’ve made a lot of happier/radio friendly stuff, but this is definitely a darker EP. The entire album is produced by an artist that goes by Boombox Massacre. He’s an amazing producer. I’m really excited about it. It’s a different feel for me, it’s a different style, and so far the response has been nothing but positive. We’ve been getting a lot of spins on KEXP 90.3, they’ve been showing a lot of love. I’m really excited man. I’m doing something different. I kind of feel like for the first five years of my career I was successfully doing the same thing over and over. This time I’m trying something different and I’m liking the music that’s been coming out right now.
What was the reason you decided to go the darker direction with this project?
I kind of feel like a lot of the artists in the game have the game fucked up. They don’t understand it. That’s kind of where the name Black Roses came from. It’s kind of a death to all the corny mother fuckers and death to everyone that doesn’t understand what’s going on. If you aren’t a survivor you’re not going to survive. That’s kind of a cliché but that’s kind of what I was going for, just really throwing bombs out there.
The albums going to hurt a few feeling, there’s definitely going to be some people who aren’t going to be happy with some of the words coming out on this album. But at this point that’s all good.
Northwest artists or just in general?
Yeah, I think there are going to be a few Northwest artists who are going to get their feelings hurt and I’m okay with that.
Gotcha. And you have the release parties right.
Two release parties. July 14th with me and Mistah Fab. July 15th I’m doing a full acoustic set with my band. Both nights are at Neumo’s on top of Capitol Hill. It’s going to be incredible.
Have you been building with Fab for awhile?
I’ve got a real good relationship with him. We’ve been working together for 4 or 5 years now. Me and him have two records together. We have a video together. He’s a good dude, I co-sign him completely.
You seem to be one of the people who stays consistently active with NW Hip Hop.
I’ve been in the game since I was 16 so I understand it. So it’s only right now that I’m approaching my veteran years that I kind of help some of the younger dudes in the game. But that also goes back to the Black Roses. You can’t hold people’s hands forever. That’s why I’m saying Black Roses man. Nas said, “Hip Hop is Dead.” Hip hop is definitely not dead but there are Black Roses everywhere.
Do you think certain parts of the game that should be dead?
It’s a rap now man. July 14th it’s a rap!
Follow Neema on Twitter @MR10K.