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9/4/2006 Amplafire Interview Not only is Amplafire entertaining, he's also got a lot of dope ideas and is putting them to use with his new DVD series BARS (Beats and Rhymes for the Streets). What's up? I'm doing good. I've been grinding on this B.A.R.S. DVD. How's the BARS DVD doing for you so far? It's doing good. I'm just working on getting it out there more and promoting it right now. You have a CD of Amplafire music with the DVD. Why did you want to release both in one package? I just wanted to give the people both. I grabbed my camcorder and recorded a bunch of artists and producers. We're focusing on the up-and-coming artists and producers. I also had a lot of material I wanted to release. I've done songs with Joe Budden and the Clipse and I wanted to get those out there as well. How was it working with Joe Budden? I don't know Joe Budden but I have a friend, DJ Teck Wone. He plugged me in and we made that happen. The dude who does my art, Shomi, works with the Clipse and he plugged me in with them. It was cool. It sucks a lot of people don't take you seriously until you have collaborations. It's definitely frustrating. People only listen for the other artists. Sometimes they don't even listen for your part. It's hard. You have to figure out if you want the major artists on your tracks because it definitely affects how people listen to you. What did you do to make your DVD stand out? I went and bought the Canon XL2. It wasn't hard, but I had to get all the right equipment. This is all for unsigned artists. Nobody's doing DVD's for unsigned artists. I wanted to get underground artists exposure, just like hip hop game does. What's your motivation for that. It can't be the money… (laughs) Hip-hop is in jeopardy. I'm trying to show everybody that New York still has lyrics and we're still here. What was the most memorable experience you had during the filming? Chilling in front of Joe's Pub, recording Poison Pen, Pumpkinhead, Bad Seed, Blitz and Session right before they went to tear the stage down. What was the hardest part about getting your material out there? The hardest part is getting it to the right people. People out in the street love the music and DVD. Online, people love the music. It's just hard getting the music to the DJ's and labels. I don't have a straight line of access to all of them. The response that I get is lovely but I have to get it to the big dogs. What are your goals right now? Independent is cool, but you're also limited with your independence. You can really get your music out there with good distribution with a major. What's your next project? I'm not working on any music right now. I'm getting ready to record the next DVD. It's easier for me to get exposure with the DVD so I'm going to go full-blast with that and put the music to the side for now. The next one is going to follow the same format. I'm going to have all unsigned artists. There's a lot of talent out there. I'm trying to get that talent some exposure. It's going to be the same model. We're giving everybody a chance. You're not going to see the same people on every DVD. Poison Pen wanted me to ask you about your history as a battle MC. I was never really a battle rapper. I never really battled before. (laughs) I was in a HookT battle with someone years ago and I just wasn't feeling my verse so I walked away. That's just not for me. I respect the people who do battle though. What artists are you looking for on the DVD? This first time around, we were filming everybody. We're going to be more selective this round. Do you see yourself in competition with the Smack and All Access DVD's? I'm happy with my own lane. All the other DVD's cater to the signed artists. When's the next DVD dropping? We're recording it right now. It'll hopefully be out by the end of October. What do you want to say to everybody? All MC's, Producers and Models, holler at me if you want to be on the next DVD. Send your videos to: AMPLAFIRE PO Box 879 New York, NY 10108 ALL FEMALE MODELS CAN SEND THEIR PICS TO: amp@barsdvd.com http://www.barsdvd.com http://www.amplafire.com http://www.myspace.com/amplafire http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/barsdvd

By Brian Kayser

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