After years of setbacks, delays and industry turmoil, Neptunes affiliate Fam-Lay is finally gearing up for the release of his debut solo disc. SOHH recently sat with Fam to talk shop with the Virgina rapper. Here, he reveals the meaning behind his new CD, Dat Missile, his sound, and what it's like to start over.
After inking a deal with Def Jam in 2003 that later went sour, Nathaniel Johnson, better known as the slick-talking emcee Fam-Lay, got well acquainted with industry rule No. 4080. But with his situation at Interscope now intact and after almost 3 years of fine-tuning his debut album, he's finally ready to showcase his skills.
"It's kind of crazy, all the stuff that's happened to me," Fam-Lay told SOHH. "I'm still young and I've been through so much @#!*. With my career, it was almost like if you're playing a video game and everything is going good until your little brother comes pass and steps on the cord or hits the reset button. You gotta start all over and that's what I had to do."
Starting over may just be a blessing in disguise for the Virginia wordsmith.
The time has allowed him to re-tweak Dat Missile into a well crafted and solid effort. With 70% of the production done by The Neptunes, additional beats by DJ Toomp and guest spots from Three 6 Mafia, David Banner and the Clipse, he has his eyes set on an early fall release date.
"Where I'm from, when we say 'dat missile,' it means that you got the best product out there, the best product in town," he explains. "If you got dat missile, ain't nobody else eating and I feel like that with my music so I named my album that. This is the ultimate, futuristic, southern record. It's fun and innovative, all types of @#!*. My niche is creating a whole new sound. I got all types of different records on this album. My word play is crazy...it's all refreshing."
Having just shot a Hype Williams directed video for the disc's lead single "The Beeper Record," featuring Skateboard P, Fam is looking to bring a fresh sound to the table, something he feels is much needed in today's climate.
"@#*$%s is lazy now. They just try to find a slang or a catchy hook or something and just throw it out there," he said. "I came up under cats like the Neptunes, Nas, Jay, KRS-One, @#*$%s who take music seriously. I can't just rape the game like that. I'd feel like I was disrespecting people who really do their thing."
With "The Beeper Mixtape" set to hit the streets soon and serve as the prequel to the full-length effort, Fam-Lay is confident that heads will be treated to a time when music mattered when they pop in his disc.
"This album is like the turning point to people going back to listening to the lyrics," he explains. "When people hear it, it's going to put you back in that era. When you open up this CD, You're going to see and hear a part of Virginia that you've never heard before."
Dat Missle is set to hit stores on October 25 via Star Trak/Interscope Records.
http://sohh.com/articles/article.php/12182
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