By The Hip Hop Writer
Hip Hop Vibe Staff Writer
Boston born and Atlanta bred, T. Cartel has been making moves in Atlanta, Georgia for nearly a decade. Initially, T. Cartel was simply a rapper, however, he now does a little bit of everything. For years, he has been delivering mixtapes to the public. However, in recent years, T. Cartel has been bringing more to the table.
T. Cartel expanded his Flip Dat empire to also include music production, video production, promotion, and graphic design. During a recent talk with T. Cartel, he said he is trying to do as much as he can on his own. Due to his various talents, even rival companies come to T. Cartel for his services.
Currently, T. Cartel is celebrating the release of his Keep it G street album. T. Cartel has been promoting the album over the past few months. Recently, T. Cartel sat down with Hip Hop Vibe for an exclusive interview.
Read the entire interview below:
How do you feel about the overall reception of Keep it G? That project, wow, I say Keep it G is my greatest project to this day. On that project, I stayed away from the street shit. I gave the people me, timeless, good, music. Keep it G is something that can stand the test of time. It’s no longer about trap music, I delivered something everyone could vibe to on a social conscious tip. This is my best work, overall, definitely my favorite album. If you ever want to listen to overall good music, Keep it G is what you want to hear.
What are your goals for Keep it G going into next year? My goal going into next year, I have a child on the way, and I am trying to reach 30 to 40,000 plays and at least 5 to 10,000 download. Every song off this project will have a video and each project released in 2012 will have a video released for every song.
Are you currently working on a Keep it G follow-up? Hell yeah.
Can you tell us a little bit about your new project? The new project I have in the making, I have a CD cover made, but I decided to change the title. The project is with Evil Empire, it’s going to be a hashtag, with the pound sign, it’s gonna be called #FDOD, which stands for my company, Flip Dat. The acronym stands for Flip Dat or Die. I am working with the Duffle Bag Boyz movement, 2 Chainz, independent artists will be involved, my Flip Dat artists will be on it. Stunt City Entertainment, my little cousin, The Real Soulja Boy. This project is going to be crazy. It is all about the title, whatever your hustle is, you flip dat.
When did you launch Flip Dat Ent.? Oh man, I started FDE in 2007 on June 18, 2007. It actually came from my movement, I was dealing with so many artists and I lost a lot of them. Some were lost on the streets, while others were sent to jail. With everyone going their separate ways, I decided to take it and run with it. I was the man behind the movement, so I decided to “flip dat.”
How many artists do you have signed to Flip Dat? Right now, my roster consists of five artists and producers. Hollywood Ayo, Yung Bean, Azyla Grey, D L Literate, myself, T. Cartel, Big Snipe, our New York producer, he’s crazy with the sample, and I am trying to sign more before the end of the first quarter of 2012. I cannot take anymore demos, I will sign these final acts and go hard in the New Year.
What led you to doing video production? To be honest, I always wanted to get into doing videos. What led me to doing videos, were wack rappers and the lame ass videos. I used to check out “The Box” and I would see a lot of independent artists on the videos, the video quality sucked, the rappers sucked, yet they still got a lot of play. I always told myself, I could not wait to get my own videos done. After going through bullshit with a few videographers, I decided to take things upon myself, purchased video editing software and I went through a series of cameras, now I use Canon, big shout out to them.
Aside from rapping and videos, you also produce and do photography? Yeah. I am definitely an all-around artist. From a photography standpoint, I do very well. I also did the artwork for my own CDs. Growing up, I used to draw and I can still draw, take a picture of you, give me ten minutes, and I can draw you. But, when I got older, I learned graphic design and things began taking off.
While you do create hip hop music, you are a fan of rock music, can you tell us about this? Rock music, let me tell you man, I am a fan of hip hop. I mean hip hop in its purest form. Now, rock music is basically my alter-ego. I am a big fan of rock music, I did a rock band tour in 2009. I worked with several rock acts and they wild out. You think your hip hop concerts are wild, but you have not seen wild until you go to a rock concert. At a rock concert, people knock each other out and they still jump up and continue recording together, Pink Floyd is the greatest rock band ever. Rock music is all about unity. They say rock-n-roll created hip hop, so I am just trying to get back to the original.
With your wide range of talents, do you see yourself becoming one of the best ever? One of the best to ever do it? To be honest, not trying to sound cocky, yes. Doing what I do as a whole, with the production and everything, yeah. I do have the potential, I am just trying to get there. In the current landscape, it would not be hard to become the best. Now, to be the best, you have to say you’re the best. For example, Lil Wayne, he called himself the best, while he is hot, he is not the best, but he is on top. I strive to become one of the best, but even if they have not been discovered yet, there is always somebody better than you.
