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1/23/2006 How are you guys doing? I'm good. I'm down in Florida chilling for a spell. Just enjoying the weather, working on some music, and meeting some people. How and when did Flagrant come together? Flagrant came together about four years ago. Me and another cat I fuck with, Pete Childs, came together and Flame (another member) found out about through a family member. We all came together. Right now, Flame and I have been going hard at it. We went from a duo to a trio to a duo. How did you see the chemistry change with the revolving door of members? It didn't change too much. Flame fits right in. I knew from when we first met that we would have good chemistry. How are you guys different from each other? I'm more of an old-head. I speak from the street perspective of an O.G. in a sense. He's more young and ready to go at it, and I'd rather lay back and kick some shit. It's a good blend. When you need to hear that shit that makes you think, don't get me wrong, he's got that too, but when you want to hear that shit that gets you hyped, he's got that. We're covering everything. I'm not a battle rapper. I can, but I would rather not do that. Flame can get at anyone. Dre How: Yeah. Flame tore it down at Fight Klub. They're still asking us to come back up there. He battled C'Leon from Philly and they went at it for three or four rounds and had a draw. It was real aggressive. There was a lot of energy. It was crazy. With you being 26 and Flame being 19, do you find yourselves in two different places? Not really. It's like a big brother/little brother situation. I lead and he follows. It's cool. We never really bump heads on anything. If I want to do something that he doesn't, I'll just do it solo, and vice versa. Is it hard coming from Buffalo? You have to fight for your respect. If you're not from New York City, people aren't really trying to check for you. The music speaks for itself. The response has been crazy. How's the scene in Buffalo? It depends what kind of shit you're talking about! Everybody's rapping. As far as exposure and all of that, it's not really there. That's what we're trying to bring to the city. As far as all the street shit, that's there. Your bio says that you teach "gangsta religion." Can you define that? A lot of people like to talk about shooting your gun, but I like to talk about what you are going to do after you do that. I like to give you the whole story and not emphasize one portion of it. Dre How: We come from a church background. We coined that term. Gangsters need religion, too. A lot of your songs talk about sex, drugs, and violence though. Do you ever worry about the consequences of that? No. I pretty much don't worry about it. With me, growing up, my parents did their job. I heard that kind of music and I didn't feel I had to do what I heard. If the parents do their job, it'll be all right. That's what's going on out here. I talk about it, but there are a lot of other songs that we've done to give you the other side of the story. What about the kids out there without the right parental support? That's why I like Kanye for coming out with "Jesus Walks." When I can put out a single, you'll definitely hear something like that. For every negative song, you'll hear a positive song. There are songs out there for the kids, too. All I can rap about is what I really know and try to give the listeners every perspective possible. Dre How: We put a lot of street shit on the mixtape. If you go through the catalog, there are a lot of other songs in there on a different vibe. Some of the tracks I heard dealt with you trying to overcome obstacles. What kind of obstacles is Flagrant facing in the game today? The biggest obstacle right now is being patient. You still have to eat in the meantime. Then you're waiting and going through all the politics and everything. It can also be hard staying inspired. That's with everything in life. How did you guys get down with The Unusual Suspects? That happened through our management. They were excited about how we were getting down and they made it happen. They heard our joints and did six records for us. How is it working with The Unusual Suspects? They sent us the joints and we laid them down. We did everything in Buffalo. We weren't in the lab with them directly. This is the day of the e-mail. You can do a whole album through e-mail. What are you guys working on right now? We have the "Trafficking Part 2" coming out soon. We have some new producers that we're working with. Flame is working on his solo project. We're working on a joint with Slim Thug and Stat Quo. We just had our joints on HBO's "Unscripted." It feels good to be embraced. People look at Buffalo for the Bills, The Wings, and Rick James. This is an R&B town. There's going to be a plethora of A&R's coming up here after Flagrant pops off. What type of situation are you looking for? The right label. There's some cats talking some good things, but there's some cheddar cheese-face niggas too. Right now, there's only two sides to be on, Shady/Aftermath or Def Jam. The East Coast doesn't have much of a presence right now besides The Dips. You don't even hear much East Coast stuff on the rater. I'm not a hater, I'm a congratulator. Life goes 360o, so it'll come around. Everybody just has to stay in their zone. We're looking for Def Jam or Interscope. Both of them have slots. If you look at any roster, it's time for new talent. Not to knock any of the pioneers that paved the way, but this is a youthful industry and it's time for some new blood and time for some new cats to come out and be heard. It's a blessing that Flagrant has been embraced. Everything happens for a reason. Some things didn't happen and we could have been in some bad deals right now. What do you want to say to everyone out there? Look out for Flagrant in '06. Thank you to everyone that's been supporting us. For more information, go to myspace.com/flagrant-music

Interview was conducted with Sonny Vega$

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