By Stranga The Great
Hip Hop Vibe Staff Writer
For the past couple of years, Haitian Fresh has been one of the hottest mixtape dudes in the game. Best-known for his affiliation with Brick Squad, Haitian Fresh has appeared on countless tracks with Maino, French Montana, and Waka Flocka Flame. He also had his music picked up by countless DJs over the years.
Haitian Fresh has had a lot of his success come as an independent artist. After being a part of a crew for a long time, Haitian Fresh is doing more for himself now. Working for himself, Haitian Fresh is taking the next step with his new mixtape, which is due around New Year’s.
Hip Hop Vibe talked to Haitian Fresh today, who is pushing his singles, “Handle That” and “Lick Season.” In his interview, Haitian Fresh talked about his business moves, his singles, and his upcoming mixtape, Beast Mode 2. There is also a potentially major deal on the table for Haitian Fresh.
Read the entire interview below:
Right now, it’s trying times for Brick Squad, what is your stance on this current situation? Right now, I’m just working hard myself. Those are my homeboys and Brick Squad is my affiliation. But, I’m working on myself, I support Waka and he’s hot, so he’s doing him. I suggest the other members do the same thing, working hard and focus on them like what I’m doing. I’m focused on Haitian Fresh right now and that’s all I can do.
Has the situation hindered your creative process as you are working on new music? A lot of people that know me know the time and hard work I put in the game. But, they know that I’m looking for that big break and the past year and a half is when I started taking the music seriously. Honestly, before this, I was making music as a hobby for the most part and I had to take it seriously in order for my time to come.
Dropping songs once every six months is not going to cut it. I’ve been making music for six years, but dropping full projects and going hard has been two years. When people used to look at me, they would point out my Haitian ties and grinding hard, but I wanted to be known for more. Now, I am working harder and I’m getting booked from state to state and the buzz is picking up and I’m glad it’s happening now, because I am actually earning it. I’ve learned a lot over the past couple of years.
Speaking of the new music, how do you feel the fans will connect with it? I believe they will connect with it because hip hop has changed a million ways. I have been there through a lot of those changed and a good hook, good beat, and a good support system equals success. The difference between a person who can drop a song and hit radio with success and then there is someone who has to spend $80,000 for that type of love, but now I’ve got that machine behind me. I don’t agree with the politics of the game because a lot of talent is being hindered, but we spend our own money, I made “106 & Park” on my own with no push, and the fans love us.
But, there are these other people with the right supporters and they have the right budget. When they put a song out, they send it out to their friends and supporters, which are a bunch of radio DJs and personalities. Then, people hear the music and see the people and they think they are a big deal and they could be a nobody in reality. Now, this is becoming me out here making appearances on radio and television.
Yes, I have worked with Waka and made those appearances and I learned a lot about the game. In the past, I have been on television, but it doesn’t mean people like this are getting money like that. But, you can’t harp on that, you have to keep working and I learned a lot about the game because you need a lot of patience to be in this game, that’s what it takes. The people are going to respect me because the music is real and I actually live that life, there’s nothing to find out about me.
Can you tell us about the current singles you have out, “All They Do Is Hate” and “Lick Season?” Yes. “Lick Season” is the song being embraced by the fans. It’s me and French Montana, Ross is on the hook, and my dude Maino is on the record. We came together, everybody loved it, and both the song and video has done numbers. People have shown love on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, but there’s politics in the game that I’ve been overcoming. But, I have a resume` that backs me up because my numbers are coming through and they are real, accurate, numbers. Right now, I’m focused on me and my team, we’re putting everything together and it’s coming out right, but “Lick Season” opened the door because people saw me drop a song with one of the biggest names in the game right now, so I didn’t get viewed like a new artist.
How did these collaborations with Lil Durk, French Montana, and Maino come together? Lil Durk is on the “Handle That” single and we are currently working on the remix. This dude Lil Durk is a real dude and he is working hard, we recognized each others’ grinds and me and him link up all the time. He is my little homie and he has a bright future ahead of him, he has talent, and fans need to support him. Actually, me and him are considering doing a joint mixtape together.
Waka Flocka Flame is going through a lot right now, has he turned to you for personal reasons? When you are a true friend, you never have to turn to them for support. But, you have to know how to play your position in the game, especially when you weren’t there from the beginning. Like I said, Waka is grown and he’s been through this before, I learn from him. There’s too much history with what he’s been doing, so I play the role of big brother to him, if I’m needed, I’ll be there.
Who else will appear on your upcoming Beast Mode 2 mixtape? The new mixtape, we have a lot of people on it. Boosie, when he comes out, he’s on it, Turk, Donkey, Waka, and we have some surprises. My management team has hooked a lot of it up for me and they are the best because they help me relieve a lot of pressure, right now, we’re not waiting for 2014, we’re working right now. You’ll hear about everything soon and a lot of artists I’m working with will be on my next project and my albums. But, we’ve dropped a lot of mixtapes this year and fans are getting to them without promotion, so people are listening.
When should fans expect you to drop the mixtape? This tape is dropping at the end of this year or early next year. DJ Scream will be the host of the mixtape and the previous mixtape got me a lot of shows, so I’m looking forward to it. Shout out to DJ Scream and to my management team. It feels good to have a big team behind me and there’s a lot of surprises coming up with my upcoming new music. This team man, you’ll be hearing a lot about them, and you will soon learn what we’re doing. No days off, you have to take it in this game, no asking.
You have been working on a major deal behind the scenes and you have an announcement, can you tell us more about this? We have a few endorsement deals coming up, but we can’t provide any details at the moment though. You’ll hear about it pretty soon though. LOE Management, which stands for Loyalty Over Everything, is my new management team.
How can we connect with you on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram? Twitter @HaitianFreshBSM, Instagram is @BSMHaitianFresh, Facebook is Brick Squad Haitian Fresh. Shout out to my whole family, team, and supporters. Also, Mack-A-Zoe will be home on the 20th of this month and that’s major right there, you got it first.
Follow Stranga The Great on Twitter @StrangaTheGreat.
